I think people who do unboxing videos usually know it's going to be, like a video game or some
makeup, you know. For us, it's like a human heart and uh--really who knows? Could be be anything...
Hi! I'm Anna Dhody, Curator here at the Mütter Museum
and I've got another unboxing here for you today. But unlike the last unboxing video,
I don't know what this is. So this is the package. We often get things sent to us in the mail, you
know the donations, perhaps you remember the one we did recently. But this one, we weren't expecting.
So I'm gonna be opening it today and, just to let you know, I have absolutely no idea what
this is. I can tell you a few things. One, doesn't smell. That's always a good thing.
It's not leaking, that I can tell, which is also good. I am actually going to test it with my
handy-dandy radiation detector, aka Geiger counter. So let's give that a little whirl right here. Okay.
[Beep] Okay, one little beep is fine. [Beep] Two, that's fine. [Beep] Three, good. It's not going off crazily so I think
we're okay. So not radioactive, very good! And finally, no ticking. So I think it's passed all
my basic tests, so let's just open it up and see what it is. One more thing, just a little PSA: if
you want to send us something, that's great, that's wonderful. But please just contact us at this email
address below: collections@collegeofphysicians.org. Give us a heads up so maybe we don't have to take
all these precautions and we know what it is. And also, so we can say thank you!
Okay, so without further ado, let's open this up.
Alright, so... Yes, I'm old, I need to use my glasses. Okay, I've got some tape here.
Alright, more tape.
Lots and lots and lots of tape, which is good!
Alright, here we go...
Always open it away from your eyes. I think that's a good safety tip.
Okay...
Oh my God--
No, I'm kidding.
It looks pretty harmless, but again we don't know.
Alright! It says here: "Bosworth's snare." Before I open it up, let's see...
Alright, we've got a letter:
Okay, well thank you, G.H.
Let's see what we've got here: "Bosworth's snare." Alright...
What is it going to snare? Hopefully not me!
Fun fact: I have been advised by my physician to get a tetanus shot
once every 5-7 years instead of once every 10 years like other people. Just in case.
Alright...
So we've got the case, we've got a little bit of an article from 1897.
Okay, I'll go look at that later. Right now, kind of want to take a look at this...
Three dollars.
Bosworth's snare.
And... here we go!
Well first of all, right off the bat, love the purple. I think I'm matching.
It was meant to be. Wow, okay, definitely some sharp things here.
Look at that! Now I should also mention that, yes, I am the curator of a medical museum.
Do I know how to work every single instrument that is in this museum or that may come to us? No.
Do I know what a Bosworth's snare is? No. Do I know how to use it? No.
Does it make a nice sound when you do that? Yes. Should I be doing that? Probably not.
So put it down now. Oh, more, but there's attachments.
So that's hollow, it's completely hollow. And another one that's curved.
So that's really interesting. My guess is that those go into something. Probably unpleasant.
Ooh!
Okay, this is some wire here. Maybe the wire gets threaded through
those and it's used for--oh look, there's this-- Okay, here we go. There's a hole here, there's a hole there.
There's a little screw thing here. So I bet you were supposed to put one of these...
Look at that! Fits perfectly in there. And then you tighten it like so. Maybe?
I'm tightening it. Yeah, okay.
Alright, that's not going anywhere. Then you've got this wire...
And you probably thread the wire... through there... and then... something happens.
I think that's really cool. You know what I should probably do?
I'm going to do some research on this instrument, and then maybe I'll report back to you a little bit later,
and we can actually find out a little bit more about it and what it does.
Alright, so this is a medical snare, specifically a Bosworth's snare. There's many different types and varieties of them.
So basically, you have this instrument here. These are for the physician's fingers.
You've got this, and I think there's--I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is like
an adjustable area here. But the main purpose, to my knowledge, is you attach
these cannula. They're hollow. You tighten it and then, this is at actually a nasal and aural snare,
so nose, ear. There was an author of a paper named Dr. Anderson, who recommended using a very
specific type of wire to thread through this, specifically number 5 piano wire.
So that is what we call "off label." Generally speaking, to my knowledge, one does not use
piano wire for anything other than pianos or some other unpleasant activities that were decidedly
not medical. So I think this is interesting. Do I know if this is number five piano wire? I do not.
But I do know that it does actually fit into these tubes here. Now what they would do is they--I don't
want to actually deform this too much--but they would take these wires and they would make a loop.
And then they would thread this loop through there. And then feed that into the nose and then use this
sharp wire to extract things from the nose, maybe from the ear. Could be nasal polyps, could
be something like that. It's really interesting. So along with this instrument, came this article,
which is dated April 10th, 1897. And it's entitled "A Modification of Bosworth's Nasal and Aural Snare"
by P.L. Anderson, MD. And I won't read the entire thing for you but basically he says:
"Instead of the long wire loop, there is substituted a flexible steel stilette, with one end flattened and having a
round eye large enough to receive a double thread of No. 5 piano wire; the other end terminates
in a circular hook, the central point of which is in line with the long axis of the stilette.
The stilette is inserted into the cannula of Bosworth's snare with the eye projecting just beyond the distal end in
position for threading with the short loop of wire. The other end is hooked around a screw-post set..."
So they're talking about how he's modifying the setup of how to actually use this snare. Now in terms of
what the snare is used for, could be wrong, but it sounds kind of self-explanatory. They need to go up
into a part of your body and snare something, catch something, gather something up, and bring it out.
What could that be? I'm gonna guess nasal polyps, things like that, maybe foreign bodies that should
not be there. We have our own Chevalier Jackson, who's very good at getting those out of your
throat. But, as we all know, people like to stick things in all sorts of places and they need to
sometimes be professionally removed. So this could be something like that, too.
Now the author goes on to cite some advantages to his modification one of them being that:
"The wire loop may be bent to any curve and withdrawn to allow the operator to introduce the instrument,
adjust the loop, and complete the snaring by the use of one hand only..." This is really good.
"...which gives the eye a complete view of the entire field of operation, and leaves the other hand free
to hold the speculum." Interesting. "It is easily taken apart and cleaned after each operation,
and is no more expensive than a Bosworth." Okay, and then it goes, it says "84 Dearborn Street."
I don't know what that means.
So this was our mystery donation: a Bosworth's snare from a gentleman in Minnesota.
Thank you. And I'm still alive! It's all good, just another Mütter day.
You never know what's going to happen, you never know what you're going to get.
So thank you for this Bosworth's snare and we'll see what it does and how we're supposed to use it.
And now the paperwork begins because we have to put it into the collection if we decide we want it.
So until next time, I'm Anna Dhody, encouraging you to stay disturbingly informed!
So I'm going to open this up now, and you and I will be the first people to know what this is.
It could be a really interesting donation, it could be something used as evidence later on. Who knows?