Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum - Part 2

I was touring the Laboratory Museum in Saranac, New York with my sister (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). The sanatorium also trained nurses. This is the graduating class of 1915 with Dr. Trudeau, who died later that same year:

A typical patient bed, of the type they'd use on their fresh air porches:

A doctor's medical bag and stethoscope:

A doctor's kit of medical tinctures:

And a wide variety of pills:

The modern cure for tuberculosis was not developed until the 1950s, but the disease has made a comeback in the U.S. and the Trudeau Institute is still studying the disease at their modern facility nearby:

The Laboratory Museum had a separate display room downstairs. The last time I was here, it displayed "Medical Marvels" of the era (most of which looked more like torture machines to me). This time, the display was "The Roaring Twenties:"

Flapper jewelry:

A red flapper dress:

Etiquette of the day required men to remove their hats indoors, so hat checks began opening in restaurants and clubs. It also offered young women a place to work outside the home:

Roaring Twenties hats. These surprised me as I thought that they could be worn today and no one would think amiss as you walked down the street:

There were lots of shoes from the twenties, but I chose to picture this pair, women's high heels. This was the end of our Laboratory Museum tour:

Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum - Part 1

My sister was visiting and we only had two days together, so we wanted to make them productive. The forecast for day two of her visit was for heavy rain, so we drove down to Saranac Lake to see the Laboratory Museum, site of the famous "fresh air cure" for tuberculosis and much research into the disease:

The building houses the original lab, its furniture and lab equipment. What was not original was reproduced as accurately as possible:

Scientific instruments of the day:

My sister peered into Dr. Trudeau's personal office:

Gary Trudeau, creator of the comic "Doonesbury," is Dr. Trudeau's grandson. Many famous people, including Robert Louis Stevenson, came here for the cure:

The Institute operated from the late 1800s through the early 1900s, sometimes treating 400 patients at once and embracing 50-100 local homes with porches where the patients could spend their days getting fresh air:

I didn't catch on at first, but my sister pointed out the window to the next house. It was exactly what the photo on the sign showed, and the porch where Dr. Trudeau took his own fresh air cure:

This photo, the sign said, was taken in 1897, three years after the lab opened. Clearly it was later colorized and looked exactly as the room looks today. See the next picture for more information:

This refers to the above photo and how the place was designed. The walls were all white glazed bricks:

We got to look into a microscope at tuberculosis bacteria. At the end of our tour, we saw plush tuberculosis germs were for sale as toys or souvenirs:

The Trudeau Sanatorium, the first successful one in the U.S., came to include 50 buildings around the town of Saranac Lake, NY:

Tuberculosis was once common in this country and it took much research to find a real cure. I'll post Part 2 of our museum tour tomorrow:

Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum - Part 3

I was touring the Medical Marvel Room at the Saranac Laboratory Museum, where old time medical devices were displayed. This one looked particularly suspicious, where a - well, you can enlarge the photo and read the poster:

Ultraviolet light therapy:

Phrenology, or the reading of bumps on the skull:

There were quite a few visitors viewing the displays of medical marvels:

An early ECG machine:

There was "The Perfectcoil" radation therapy machine:

But it was soon time for me to exit, so I left the Medical Marvel Room and walked back up the stairs:

I had to exit through the gift shop, which I thought was a clever arrangement:

My favorite souvenir and without a doubt the highlight of my tour was this basket of plush, stuffed tuberculosis germs and medical leaches. A couple of fine Christmas presents, I'd say:

I had to walk around to the rear of the building to get to my parked car, and I took one last look at this historic landmark:

Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum - Part 2

I was touring the Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum, viewing the actual lab where early research helped cure tuberculosis:

There were old pills and medicines:

A wheelchair and a gurney:

Chest X-rays:

Beginning in the 1930s, this laboratory conducted research into all manner of lung diseases, including a study of the harmful effects of asbestos for the Johns-Manville Corporation. The research was never published and Johns-Manville claimed they knew of no harmful effects of asbestos until 1982, when the old Saranac Laboratory studies were uncovered. This led to the bankruptcy of Johns-Manville:

Downstairs at the museum was an entire room devoted to medical marvels of the early 1900s:

Some of these medical devices and cures were pure quackery, some may have helped:

There was a Violet Ray Electrical Therapy machine:

And the Super Marvel Violet Ray, which applied purple, blue or red electrical sparks to the body. But there was still more to see at the museum, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Saranac Lake Laboratory Museum - Part 1

I didn't have the energy for farm work, so I drove down to the scenic village of Saranac Lake one day to visit their Laboratory Museum. It was right on the main road I used to travel on my way to and from the farm, but I'd never noticed it:

I entered and began my tour, learning that Dr. Trudeau was the founder, having been cured of tuberculosis by a trip to the Adirondacks in the late 1900s:

Dr. Trudeau founded this laboratory for research into a cure for tuberculosis, the first in the United States, and this is his lab:

The building was brick and stone on the outside, white glazed brick on the inside, and filled with old medical and research instruments:

Dr. Edward Baldwin, who also worked to find a cure for tuberculosis here, stayed on to help with microscope research:

And speaking of research, tuberculosis research was conducted right here in this room - and I got to see the tuberculosis germ in the microscope:

In 1884, Dr. Trudeau added a sanitarium for the care of people with tuberculosis who could not pay for all of their care. It was the first successful facility for the treatment of TB in the United States:

Patients used to spend much of their time in bed:

And when not in bed or undergoing treatments, patients had time for handicrafts. There was lots more to see at the museum, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: