Indiana Medical History Museum (Chemistry Lab)
This file appears in: Indiana Medical History Museum
The Clinical Chemistry laboratory in the Old Pathology Building used body fluids, like spinal fluid, blood, and urine, to diagnosis diseases like syphilis, meningitis, tabes, and paresis. Syphilis, a bacterial infection, was one of the leading causing of mental illness during the time before the discovery of penicillin. This lab boasts a hand-cranked two-vial centrifuge and original plumbing fixtures.
Image courtesy of Kurt Lee Nettleton, 2013
This file appears in: Indiana Medical History Museum
Indiana Medical History Museum
Early History: 1840’s-1900’s
Two and a half miles west of downtown sits the site of Central State Hospital, Indiana’s first hospital for the mentally ill. The term “hospital” rather than “asylum” signaled the institution’s intent to cure patients…