Third Chair (1841-1856)
Department of Surgery
Jefferson Medical College
History
Historical Profiles
Thomas Dent Mutter, MD:
The Humble Narrative of a Surgeon, Teacher & Curious Collector
Authors:
Jordan P. Bloom, BS
Charles J. Yeo, MD
Pinckney J. Maxwell IV, MD
Source:
The American Surgeon
(full text PDF)
Volume 77, Number 5, May 2011 , pp. 662-664(3)
Early Life & Education
- Born March 9, 1811 in Richmond, Virginia
- Orphaned by age 8 & raised by a distant maternal relative
- Attended Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia
- Earned his MD from Penn in 1831
- Studied under master surgeons of Europe for one year
- Returned to Philadelphia to assist Dr. Thomas Harris
Career
- Joined Jefferson as part of the Famous Faculty of ‘41 along with:
- Robley Dunglison
- Joseph Pancoast
- Charles D. Meigs
- John K. Mitchell
- Robert Huston
- Franklin Bache
- 1841-1856: Professor of Surgery
- Forte in reconstructive surgery
- Strong advocate of aseptic technique
- First surgeon to use ethyl ether anesthesia in Philadelphia
Figure 2 - Mütter, Thomas Dent. Cases of deformity from burns, successfully treated by plastic operations. Philadelphia: Merrihew & Thompson, 1843.
Later Life
- Married Miss Mary Alsop of Middletown, Connecticut (no children)
- Resigned as chair of the Principles & Practice of Surgery in 1856 due to ill health
- Succeeded by Samuel D. Gross
- Elected Emeritus Professor
- Returned to Europe for climate in 1857, but health continued to decline
- Moved to Charlestown, SC where he died March 19, 1859 at the age of 48
- Buried in Middletown, Connecticut
Legacy
- Immensely popular among students
- Jefferson would have the Mütter Collection if we had a fireproof building
- Dr. Mütter wills his collection along with a $30,000 bequest to the College of Physicians
- Original museum completed in 1863 at 13th & Locust, later moved to 19 S. 22nd Street
- Over 1700 items in his personal collection
- Dr. John H. Gibbon researched and wrote on Dr. Mütter in 1925 while at Jefferson & the Mütter Museum later obtained a model of the Gibbon heart-lung machine
Images courtesy of Archives & Special Collections, TJU.
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