Medical Student Hijinks

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a tradition for medical students to pose for the camera with the cadavers they worked on. The students also posed skeletons and bodies in various humorous scenes, such as playing cards, or gathered around the dissecting table to examine the living student.

Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930 collects together these unusual medical photographs. Would be a nice coffee table book, if your guests aren't too squeamish. [via Memorias Perdidas]

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 24, 2013
Category: Death

Comments

Can you believe the law suits this would bring down today????

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 09/24/13 at 10:08 AM

What ??? No smoking dog skeletons around a table playing poker ?

Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 09/24/13 at 04:31 PM

One of those could be a relative of Craig Ferguson's sidekick.

Posted by KDP on 09/24/13 at 05:37 PM

Members of the Skull and Bones.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/24/13 at 11:01 PM

Medical students told me of edgier hijinks they heard of, like rolling the head of a medical cadaver down a busy street and standing in front of a urinal for a while and then tossing in a cadaver's todger, with the comment, "Aah, this thing don't work!"

What kind of prankster is doing procedures on you?

Posted by Harvey on 09/25/13 at 12:38 AM

I feel like these are the predecessor to the Bodies exhibit

Posted by John Carson on 09/28/13 at 04:18 PM

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