NB! The exhibition has been taken down
A healthy soul in a healthy body
The exhibition has ended.
The exhibition "Healthy soul in a healthy body" gave a presentation of the development within medical research, clinical medicine, psychiatry and public education in Norway in the last 150 years.
Photo: Norsk Teknisk Museum
Central to the narrative is the history of the major infectious diseases and their importance for disease understanding and disease control. The exhibition also shows changes in the use of medical technology and the rise of the various medical professions.
New health risks emerged around the middle of the 19th century. Infectious diseases were widespread in the rapidly growing cities. Especially in poor areas, the sanitary and hygienic conditions were not satisfactory, seen from today's eyes.
Over the past 150 years, life expectancy for women has risen from 50 to 81 years.
During the 20th century, the field of medicine has grown in breadth and content. Relationships around the individual patient, doctor and disease are part of large social contexts, managed by various authorities, professions, universities and research institutions.
The exhibition contained, among other things:
Davidson Pneumothorax Apparatus
An instrument for inducing artificial pneumothorax (collapse of the lung). A new era in the fight against tuberculosis was ushered in at the beginning of the 20th century, when it became possible to identify the infected parts of the lung precisely. With the help of artificial pneumothorax, which was performed for the first time in 1895 by the Italian doctor Carlo Forlanini (1847 – 1918), it became possible to close the cavities in the lung, and thus inhibit the spread of the bacteria.
"Iron Lung"
Such a tank respirator from the 1950s was, among other things, used by polio patients. Those whose breathing muscles were paralyzed had to have help to keep their lung function going for a shorter or longer time. They could then lie inside an iron lung, where the pressure was regulated in such a way that the patient's chest rose and fell rhythmically and breathing was kept going.
Maren
No one knows who this woman was, but she is called Maren. She probably died in one of the cholera epidemics in Oslo in the 1850s. She was found by construction workers in the early 20th century, during excavation work in what could be a hidden cholera cemetery. Her body is well preserved. Due to low access to oxygen, the skin and fat have been transformed into a kind of wax.
