Mütter's Day

Far from home on British Mother's Day, I missed out on my sons' latest culinary triumphs (wild garlic and manchego pesto/ hazelnut, pecan and red quinoa cake).

Instead, I feasted my eyes on the collection of medical curiosities in Philadelphia's celebrated museum based around the original 1858 donation of Dr Thomas Dent Mütter. The saponified corpse known as the Soap Lady, the liver of conjoined twins Chang and Eng, the skeleton of the Kentucky Giant and his dwarfish companions, President Grover Cleveland's tumour, the vast enlarged colon that contained with 40 pounds of faeces, the Parisian widow's horn, Einstein's brain, 139 skulls, and assorted monstrous growths, births and deaths make up this astonishing collection. Not for the faint-hearted so perhaps it was just as well that photography is strictly forbidden. I was able to capture only a few shots, of which these gout-afflicted hands was one. However, the morbidly curious can find some excellent images from the museum here.

Happy Mütter Mother's Day!