Taking Toronto's Healthcare History

The history of healthcare in Toronto covers an array of professions and subjects. It is preserved in a vast number of objects and documents. This exhibit offers a glimpse into Toronto’s medical past and presents a sample of objects from across the medical spectrum from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

These items have been contributed by several university collections: the Fisher Rare Book Library, the University of Toronto Scientific Instrument Collection, and the collection of the Medical Alumni Association.

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White’s Physiological Manikin
Designed in the late 19th century, White’s Physiological Manikin revealed the secrets of the human body one flap at a time. As a life-size visual encyclopaedia, White’s Manikin shows anatomical structure, surgical techniques, and even prenatal development despite the sex of the Manikin being male.
Psychological Tests
The first psychology laboratory in Canada was created in 1891 at the University of Toronto, under the direction of the well-known psychologist James Baldwin. It was housed on the first floor of the University College building.
Nurses Uniforms, 1880’s – 1970’s
Modern nurses uniforms have evolved significantly from their early precursors.
Institutional Medicine
In late 18th- and early 19th- century Upper Canada, a variety of Acts were passed which attempted to restrict the practice of medicine and surgery to licensed individuals with formal training.
Grant’s Atlas of Anatomy
Nearly 70 years after it’s original publication Grant’s Atlas remains a top-selling anatomical atlas and is considered to be one of the “gold standard” atlases of modern medical education.
Electricity in Medicine
Instruments like the galvanometer and the chemical battery produced remarkable interest and optimism among medical professionals
Chambers’ Micromanipulator
A micromanipulator is an instrument that makes it possible to manipulate objects at the limits of optical magnification.
Hemoglobin Scale Booklet
This portable booklet allowed for the quick determination of a patient’s hemoglobin levels. The colour of a drop of the patient’s blood on blotting paper was simply compared to the colours on the scale, which correspond to different concentrations of hemoglobin. This diagnostic tool would have been used to diagnose conditions such as anemia. (Early [Read More...]
No. 4. D. D. Home Electrical Apparatus
This medical device supplied ‘Galvanic’ (direct) current from a dry-cell battery. It was a low-end product for use in the home. The purchaser received 90-page booklet with instructions for treating one hundred diseases. The large number of surviving examples suggests that this item was quite popular among self-treating patients at this time. c. 1890  
Nurse Cape (Mid-20th Century)
This cape, which dates from the 1940’s, would have been worn over a uniform when travelling or when working outside or in cold conditions. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization
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