Hello
and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob
Burgess.
On this our, 131st episode, our guest is … me!
My first solo episode of this podcast was Episode 41, the second was Episode 62, the third was Episode 84, the fourth was Episode 117, and the fifth was Episode 131. And, on Episode 100, I was joined by my wife and regular guest Ash Burgess, who interviewed me.
I am a nine-time award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in print, radio, online, and television. I am currently News Editor of NUVO, where I was also a freelance reporter and photographer back in 2010 and 2011. Before that, I was Managing Editor of the Indiana Lawyer, and City Editor/Opinion Page Editor/Editorial Board Member at the Kokomo Tribune. I have previously worked as a reporter at WFHB, Times-Mail, The Reporter-Times, Ukiah Daily Journal, and Ukiah Valley Television.
Oh yeah, and I’m also the proprietor of the podcast, The Rob Burgess Show.
Join The Rob Burgess Show mailing list! Go to tinyletter.com/therobburgessshow and type in your email address. Then, respond to the automatic message.
I have a Patreon account, which can be found at www.patreon.com/robburgessshowpatreon. I hope you'll consider supporting in any amount.
Also please make sure to comment, follow, like, subscribe, share, rate and review everywhere the podcast is available, including iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Facebook, Twitter, Internet Archive, TuneIn and RSS.
The official website for the podcast is www.therobburgessshow.com.
You can find more about me by visiting my website, www.thisburgess.com.If you have something to say, record a voice memo on your smartphone and send it to therobburgessshow@gmail.com. Include “voice memo” in the subject line of the email.
On this our, 131st episode, our guest is … me!
My first solo episode of this podcast was Episode 41, the second was Episode 62, the third was Episode 84, the fourth was Episode 117, and the fifth was Episode 131. And, on Episode 100, I was joined by my wife and regular guest Ash Burgess, who interviewed me.
I am a nine-time award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in print, radio, online, and television. I am currently News Editor of NUVO, where I was also a freelance reporter and photographer back in 2010 and 2011. Before that, I was Managing Editor of the Indiana Lawyer, and City Editor/Opinion Page Editor/Editorial Board Member at the Kokomo Tribune. I have previously worked as a reporter at WFHB, Times-Mail, The Reporter-Times, Ukiah Daily Journal, and Ukiah Valley Television.
Oh yeah, and I’m also the proprietor of the podcast, The Rob Burgess Show.
Join The Rob Burgess Show mailing list! Go to tinyletter.com/therobburgessshow and type in your email address. Then, respond to the automatic message.
I have a Patreon account, which can be found at www.patreon.com/robburgessshowpatreon. I hope you'll consider supporting in any amount.
Also please make sure to comment, follow, like, subscribe, share, rate and review everywhere the podcast is available, including iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Facebook, Twitter, Internet Archive, TuneIn and RSS.
The official website for the podcast is www.therobburgessshow.com.
You can find more about me by visiting my website, www.thisburgess.com.If you have something to say, record a voice memo on your smartphone and send it to therobburgessshow@gmail.com. Include “voice memo” in the subject line of the email.
Here are links to the Mütter Museum exhibits I mentioned:
The Soap Lady
The Soap Lady is the name given to a
woman whose body was exhumed in Philadelphia in 1875. The specimen is
unique because a fatty substance called adipocere encases the
remains. Adipocere formation is not common, but it may form in
alkaline, warm, airless environments, such as the one in which the
Soap Lady was buried.
The first X-rays taken of the Soap Lady
in 1986 revealed buttons and pins on her clothing that were not
manufactured in the United States until the 1830s.
Dr. Joseph Leidy, known as the father
of American vertebrate paleontology, procured the body of the Soap
Lady after she was exhumed at a Philadelphia cemetery. He originally
reported that she died in the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of
the 1790s. Based on her lack of teeth, Leidy assumed that she had
died in middle or old age.
The first X-rays taken of the Soap Lady
in 1987 revealed buttons and pins on her clothing thatwere not
manufactured in the United States until the 1830s. Leidy was wrong
about her year of death.
A radiology team from Quinnipiac
University led by Jerry Conlogue and Ron Beckett made a new set of
digital and print X-rays in 2007. These images have allowed us to
revise the Soap Lady’s age at death from about 40 to significantly
younger, perhaps in her late 20s.
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From the FAQ:
Why is the Museum called the Mütter?
The Museum is named for Thomas Dent Mütter, MD (1811 – 1859), a physician, professor, and Fellow of the College. In 1858 he bequeathed his entire teaching collection of more than 1,700 objects and specimens to the College, along with a substantial endowment. These objects became the core of the Mütter Museum and today we have more than 25,000 objects in the collection.
-
Hyrtl Skull Collection
The Mütter Museum acquired this
collection of 139 human skulls from Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl
(1810-1894) in 1874. His work was an attempt to counter the claims of
phrenologists, who held that cranial features were evidence of
intelligence and personality and that racial differences caused
anatomical differences. Hyrtl’s aim in collecting and studying the
skulls was to show that cranial anatomy varied widely in the
Caucasian population of Europe.
-
Human horn
This dried specimen from the Mütter
Museum collection was removed from a 70-year-old woman. It was her
second horn growth, and she had it for seven years before it was
removed. It is 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) long and was donated
to the Museum in the 1940s.
Cornu cutaneum growths, or cutaneuous
horns, look similar to animal horns, but they have a different
composition. They are compacted keratin protrusions of lesions that
most often occur on areas of the body commonly exposed to the sun,
like the face, hands, and forearms. About 60% of the reported cases
of cutaneous horn lesions are benign. Women older than 50 who have
had long-term sun exposure and many sunburns are more likely to have
these growths than men.
The earliest well-documented case of a
human cutaneous horn dates to 1588 and was that of Margaret Gryffith,
an elderly Welsh woman. Another famous case is that of 17th-century
Englishwoman Mary Davis, an aging widow who had horns on the back of
her scalp. She was exhibited in London as a natural wonder. The
Mütter’s own well-known wax model of Madame Dimanche, sculpted
from life and shown to the right here, shows the face of an elderly
woman with a large horn protruding from the top of her forehead and
hanging down in front of her face. Her horn measured nearly 25
centimeters (10 inches) long.
Humans and horns share a twisted
history. In mythology and folklore, horned humans represent devils,
demons, and other nefarious creatures. It is easy to imagine that the
strange sight of a horn on a human could inspire such stories.
-
Giant Megacolon
This colon belonged to a 29-year-old
man who had complained of constipation for most of his life. The
condition he endured is known as congenital aganglionic megacolon, or
Hirschsprung’s disease. It occurs when nerve cells in part of the
colon fail to develop and make it difficult for waste to move to the
rectum (aganglionic means “without nerve cells”).
The subject was a normal infant up to
the age of 18 months, with the exception of a rather large abdomen,
coupled with irregularity of bowels and some constipation. His
condition progressed, with the severity of the constipation
increasing along with the size of his abdomen. By the age of 16 he
would go up to a month at a time without any bowel movements. At 20
he was exhibited at a dime museum as the “Wind Bag” or “Balloon
Man.”
During this man’s lifetime, doctors
knew that his ailment was not a tumor but rather a defective colon.
Surgery to identify and fix the cause would have been extremely
risky. He ultimately died of the condition, and was found dead in a
bathroom where he was attempting to pass waste.
In Hirschsprung’s disease, only a
small section of the colon is usually affected, but the body is
unable to transfer normal amounts of waste to any point below the
affected section. Chronic constipation ensues. This condition occurs
in 1 out of every 5,000 to 8,000 births. However, today it is usually
identified soon after birth because the baby will have a distended
bowel. It is easily corrected with surgery in which the affected
portion of the bowel is removed and the “good ends” are sewn
together.
-
Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
Harry Eastlack
This is the skeleton of Harry Eastlack
(1933-1973). Actually, you see two skeletons: the one that Eastlack
was born with, and the one that formed from his skeletal muscles and
other connective tissue as he aged.
Eastlack had a rare disorder called
fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). It is caused by a
genetic mutation that transforms connective tissue, such as muscle,
ligaments, and tendons, into bone. This results in progressive fusion
of all the joints in the skeletal system. It occurs only in about 1
in 2 million births, and most cases are due to spontaneous genetic
mutation rather than a heritable one.
FOP is difficult to diagnose because
there are no visual signs at birth except for malformed great toes.
Diagnosis usually occurs after the body begins creating bone
following an injury or illness. First, the affected muscle becomes
inflamed, then destroyed, then replaced with bone. Surgery to remove
excess bone will worsen the condition. Unfortunately for Eastlack,
this was not known when he was young. He endured several surgeries to
remove excess bone, which only worsened his condition. By age 15, his
jaw was permanently fused and he could no longer eat solid food. He
died of pneumonia at age 39 after having spent years bedridden.
Eastlack requested that his skeleton be
used to help scientists understand more about FOP. Researchers refer
to the skeleton frequently, and it has been displayed at conferences
attended by researchers and people who have FOP.
