Good morning, DMV! It’s Tuesday, May 26.
Over the weekend, my family and I visited the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring. We’d first learned of the museum during the pandemic, when we were exploring all the hiking trails we could find near home. We discovered the Ireland Drive Trail, where other hikers pointed out a resident owl, high up in the hollow of a tree. We returned often to see the owl, until one day it was no longer there.
For all of you birders: An owl photographed through a lens of our binoculars. (Landry Dunand)
The nearby museum — which tells the history of American military medicine and medicine in general — was closed during the pandemic, so we had never gone. Then this past weekend, they hosted a docent-led tour, so we finally went.
A group listens to a docent-led talk next to a skeleton that is of an average-height man; the bones have been separated at the joints so they can be viewed in anatomical relation to one another. (Alisa Tang)
A museum focused on military medicine, with specimens of human body parts collected from battlefields, is not for the faint of heart. The collection began in 1862 after the Army medical department ordered that “all specimens of morbid anatomy” be gathered from Civil War battlefields. It now includes more than 25 million specimens, documents, photos, artifacts and artworks — only a fraction of which are on display.
The microscope at left, from London, 1665, belonged to the first person to describe cells, according to museum signage. The one at right is from Rome, 1685. (Alisa Tang)
Among the artifacts are microscopes dating back to the 1600s, and the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln and was recovered when members of the military performed an autopsy.
There are preserved conjoined twins, a connected brain and spinal cord and a human hairball from the stomach of a person with trichotillomania (the urge to pull out hair) and trichophagia (the urge to eat pulled hair).
The museum is full of the horrors of war. A skull struck by artillery. Bones of amputated limbs.
My family and I asked each other which item was the most memorable at the museum. For my daughter, it was the hairball. For my husband, the bullet that killed Lincoln. For me, it was this lace artwork, dated 1917.
According to the museum signage, “A psychiatric patient made this lacework, featuring imagined people and animals, during her therapy at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.”
(Alisa Tang)
To readers who joined the tour: As my family and I were leaving the museum, a staffer told me that a group of women visiting that day had read about the tour in my newsletter! I wanted to say hello, so the staffer and I walked around looking for you, but we missed you. Glad you came!
For those of you who have been to this museum, let me know the most memorable part of your visit.
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🐦 Things to do
Black Birders Week — created in response to the Central Park birdwatching incident — kicked off on Sunday. DC Bird Alliance is hosting these free events Saturday to close out the week:
7 a.m. — A nature walk at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens with DC Bird Alliance’s Junior Ambassador, Ali, and Erik the Reptile Guy from PBS. Register here.
12 p.m. — Master falconer Rodney Stotts is also giving a free raptor presentation on the Great Lawn at the Parks at Walter Reed. Register here.
📰 News around the DMV
Poll: Even after everything, Washingtonians are optimistic (City Cast DC)
How do D.C.’s buzzy new chicken joints stack up? (Washingtonian)
📷 Your joy
(Chris Thompson)
Chris Thompson, 66, of Rockville, Maryland, sent in this photo taken earlier this month.
“This is on one of the beautiful shaded paths at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton,” Chris wrote. “I love how the sun brings out the contrast in colors. I could stroll these peaceful paths all day.”
🦉
