What Doctors Say About You When You're Dead

By: Michelle Dubert-Bellrichard

The first question I always ask an archivist is, “what's the weirdest collection you have?” This may not seem like a shocking question for those of you who know me, but it is guaranteed to get a reaction out of most archivists. My experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives was no different. I asked UW Archives director, David Null, this question, and while there was a brief look of confusion on his face at first, I could tell that David had a few ideas in mind. When archivists are asked what is weird they have to consider what weird means to them and what won't offend people. David initially wanted me to look at the collection of cabbage rot photos, but he was concerned with offending students in the CALS department who apparently love that collection. Eventually, David found the right collection for me to look at: autopsy reports.

There is nothing truly weird about autopsy reports. When you die, there is usually one written about you. Although, I guess detailed descriptions of organs can be considered off putting to some. To me, it would be nice to know how much urine I have left in my bladder when I die. That's beside the point really. The weird thing about these reports is that they are from Worcester, Massachusetts. The UW Archives has a collecting focus of UW history, obviously, so these reports appear misplaced. With further investigation, though, these autopsy records were a part of the work of former UW professor William Snow Miller.

Miller, pictured above, worked at the City Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts before coming to UW as an instructor of zoology in 1892. His reputation rested on his contributions to our knowledge of the anatomy of the lung. He also published a monograph titled “The Lung” in 1937 – a culmination of his life's work. So, the presence of these autopsy reports seem a little less odd now with acquisition information. These reports were simply a fragment of his work and experience that helped land him a position at UW and influence his study on the human lungs.

Now, while the nature of an autopsy report is not “weird”, some may find Miller's descriptions as somewhat odd or graphic. For each cadaver Miller studied, he kept detailed notes about each part of the body.

This is not a formal record Miller kept about his autopsies but a scrap piece of paper I found tucked in his materials. This scrap autopsy report and his more formal records share similar formats. Miller would focus on each organ and describe what he saw, felt, or even smelled. In the picture above, you can read that the cadaver's small gut was “filled with gas” and his or her's liver and spleen were enlarged. The formal autopsy reports are bound in a book that I could not scan at the UW Archives, but I transcribed a few reports that I found interesting. Note: the following ailments do not come from one body.

Date:

1887 June 26

External Examination:

Autopsy 24 hours after death. The body is that of an ill nourished male of the average height. No marks of violence seen.

Head, Thorax, and Abdomen:

The abdomen is largely distended. The abdomen contains about three pints of brown-ish fluid having an odor of garlic.

Heart and Lungs:

The heart is the size of the man's closed fist. The right heart contains a dark colored clot. The left heart is empty.

Spleen:

The spleen is small, dark blue in color, soft in consistency. It is dark red in color.

Kidneys:

The left kidney is elongated and flattened. A small cyst is found filled with a reddish fluid.

Bladder:

Bladder is partly filled with urine. Nothing abnormal is seen.

Uterus:

The uterus is dilated to the size of an ordinary lead pencil.

Anatomical diagnosis:

Acute tuberculosis

Fatty liver

Pneumonia

My favorite line of Miller's was the description of the odor of the fluid in the body's abdomen. If I were to die right now and Miller autopsied my body, fluid in my gut would smell of Milky Ways. I love how Miller would use objects to describe the size of cysts or how far dilated a uterus was instead of more accurate measurements. Miller's work makes me wonder if doctors are still just as obsessed with urine like Miller was. Check out this urine analysis sheet he developed.

Once again, Miller is greatly concerned with the odor of bodily fluids.

Overall, this was a really fascinating collection to look at. Not only did I learn the background of a UW professor, but I also caught a glimpse of scientific practices in the late 19^th Century – when exact measurements were not needed. From a strictly archival viewpoint, the acquisition paperwork and biographical file helped me solve a minor mystery as to why these papers are at the UW Archives. I feel like if I didn't ask David Null this “weird question” then I would have had a difficult time finding these reports. It's too bad archives users can't search by the subject “weird” in most repositories. We are truly missing out on some rich history.