What is Optics?

What You See is What You Get: Optics is the study of the behavior and properties of light including its interactions with matter and its detection by instruments. The term optical refers to anything pertaining to optics.

The Lens Set

Eye Exam Optical Lenses: Used to determine one’s eyeglass prescription, this set of optical lenses was used in an optometrist’s office. This particular set of lenses is a 1920s set.

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About Florence Nightingale

The Mother of Modern Nursing: Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. She helped set important foundations for today's nursing professionals.

Nightingale was also a famed writer and statistician. She is credited with the invention of the pie chart, which was originally intended to dramatize deaths caused by unsanitary conditions during the Crimean War.

Notes on Nursing

What is an Iron Lung?

A Tale of Two Names: Invented by John Haven Emerson in 1931, the Emerson Respirator (or the Iron Lung as it is more frequently called) creates a microenvironment that mimics the way the body’s chest muscles and diaphragm move air into and out of the lungs.

A True Lifesaver: In the 1940s and 1950s, incidents of polio began to rise to epidemic proportions. The iron lung became one of the most iconic objects of the polio epidemic.

Current Use

Origins

A Shocking Tool: The polysine generator took the scene in the 1900s as a device designed to deliver efficient galvanic and low voltage wave currents for nerve and muscular regeneration.

Features

A True Command Center: The machine features a white porcelain top with voltage and modality selector knobs, channel toggle switch, posts, on/off master toggle, polysine generator control knob, and milliampere dial.

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What is a Bleeding Bowl?

A Fitting Title: A bleeding bowl is used for the process of ‘bloodletting.’ This practice involved the withdrawal of large amounts of a patient's blood with the belief that this could cure or prevent illnesses and diseases. The practice has been all but abandoned in the modern world.

What is a Scarificator?

What is Moulage?

A Valuable Training Tool: Moulage is the art of applying mock injuries to mannequins/dummies in order to train medical personnel. These can be as simple as applying rubber or latex 'wounds,' to more intensive efforts such as complex makeup and theatre techniques.

More Info

Origins: The art of moulage was introduced in the 1500s. This specific set that was donated by the Department of Dermatology was produced in Sonneburg, Germany by the Somso Company sometime between 1876 and 1893.

Info About Wheelchairs

What is a Wheelchair? A wheelchair is, like the name implies, a chair with wheels. Wheelchairs are used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability.

The Details

A Brief History: Wheelchairs have roots tracing back to Ancient Greece, but the first commercially produced wheelchair came in 1783 when John Dawson brought it into the public eye.

Who is Arthur G. James?

Ohio's Very Own: Born in Belmont County, Ohio, it seemed like fate for Dr. James to be so influential in his home state. During James' college years, his interest in cancer would become prevalent during an internship at the University of Chicago.