Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Maryland Linthicum Heights Urology Museum

Urology Museum

Fascinating museum dedicated to the under-appreciated medical history of urology features some wince-inducing devices.

Linthicum Heights, Maryland

Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Gallstones   http://urologichistory.museum/content/about/
  http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/lif/...
Didusch Illustration   http://urologichistory.museum/content/about/
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
Information Card from the 10lb. Bladder Stone   Ragnar of Ballard / Atlas Obscura User
Incontinence Device, Circa 1890   Ragnar of Ballard / Atlas Obscura User
Prostate Punch   Ragnar of Ballard / Atlas Obscura User
Catheterizing Cystoscope   Ragnar of Ballard / Atlas Obscura User
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

It wasn't long a go that a bladder stone was a life threatening affair.

Among the historical figures who suffered from bladder stones were Napoleon Bonaparte, Peter the Great, Louis XIV, Oliver Cromwel, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, and famous diarist Samuel Pepys, who after surviving the operation to remove the stone - an operation that often killed those who underwent it - celebrated the occasion every year with a huge feast.

Benjamin Franklin and his brother both suffered from the stones, and Franklin fashioned a silver catheter for himself to help relieve the pain. The power of one who could successfully remove the stone was great. It is believed that Frère Jacques Beaulieu - a famous French "lithotomist" or one who removed bladder stones - name lives on in the French children's song "Frère Jacques."

That appreciation carried on into modern times. It was a a Gilded Age entrepreneur who funded the John Hopkins Brady Urological Institute after being successfully treated for bladder stones.

Today bladder stones are treated regularly and with little fanfare. With new techniques, surgery isn't necessary and the stones can be broken up with sound waves. The William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History located in the American Urological Association's headquarters - still closely tied with the John Hopkins Brady Urological Institute - celebrates this and many other breakthroughs in urology.

Started not by a doctor, but by William P. Didusch, a medical illustrator who focused in urology, the museum contains most of Didusch's original drawings, as well as an impressive instrument collection, including hundreds of urological scopes, most important among them the collection of nearly 600 cystoscopes.

The cystoscope, an instrument inserted into the urethra and used by urologists to see the inside of the bladder and urethra, was a revolution in urology. It allowed doctors to diagnose patients without performing surgery to see what the problem was. However, it is not without some sympathetic wincing that one views the older, and larger, of the cystoscopes.

The museum also keeps a collection of urology-related historical medical texts, among them the pamphlet aptly named "Pisse-Prophet."

Besides the cystoscopes, among the most curious items in the urological collection are walking canes that held secret catheters, a collection of more than 30 microscopes dating back to the 1700s, and an enormous "pineapple sized" bladder stone.

The museum has rotating exhibits which have included "Sexuality: Perception and Performance Throughout History" which displayed a jade phallus, anti-masturbation devices (a ring with spikes on the inside) and penile silicone implants from the 1980s, "Fad, Fraud, Future? Quackery and Nostrums in Urology" and "Remedies and Recipes" about historical treatments for urological ailments. Many of the items from past exhibits can still be seen on display.

Viewing the collection is free but by appointment only. The "Sexual Perception and Performance" exhibit went up in 2006, but still appears to be available. Obscura Day location: April 9, 2011.

The "Sexual Perception and Performance" exhibit went up in 2006, but still appears to be available. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/597#sthash.W6ExoBUB.dpuf The "Sexual Perception and Performance" exhibit went up in 2006, but still appears to be available. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/597#sthash.W6ExoBUB.dpuf The "Sexual Perception and Performance" exhibit went up in 2006, but still appears to be available. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/597#sthash.W6ExoBUB.dpuf The "Sexual Perception and Performance" exhibit went up in 2006, but still appears to be available. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/597#sthash.W6ExoBUB.dpu

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Strange Science Medical Museums Museums Phallic Collections Obscura Day Locations

Know Before You Go

There's free limited parking (there's not a huge amount of people, so it's not a problem that it is limited). Seeing the exhibit is free, but if you want a tour, sign up ahead of time on their website.

Community Contributors

Edited By

lisagd22, rjcarneymt, twardowskiluk, e1savage...

  • lisagd22
  • rjcarneymt
  • twardowskiluk
  • e1savage
  • Ragnar of Ballard
  • blimpcaptain

Published

March 9, 2011

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • First person source. I am an employee.
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/597
Urology Museum
1000 Corporate Blvd
Linthicum Heights, Maryland, 21090
United States
39.209784, -76.672394
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Maryland's 3rd Congressional District

Halethorpe, Maryland

miles away

Babe Ruth Field at Gibbons Commons

Baltimore, Maryland

miles away

Curtis Creek Ship Graveyard

Baltimore, Maryland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Maryland

Maryland

United States

Places 239
Stories 15

Nearby Places

Maryland's 3rd Congressional District

Halethorpe, Maryland

miles away

Babe Ruth Field at Gibbons Commons

Baltimore, Maryland

miles away

Curtis Creek Ship Graveyard

Baltimore, Maryland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Maryland

Maryland

United States

Places 239
Stories 15

Related Places

  • San Francisco, California

    Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum

    Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

  • Peekskill, New York

    Early Electrics

    Astonishing collection of helmets, scientific instruments, and medical models.

  • Electro-Metabograph

    Saint Paul, Minnesota

    Museum of Quackery and Medical Frauds

    A museum within a museum, devoted to history's most questionable medical devices.

  • Museo de Anatomopatología

    Mexico City, Mexico

    Museo de Anatomopatología (Museum of Pathological Anatomy)

    Located in a veterinary school, this macabre exhibit displays the effects of animal diseases.

  • Field tools.

    Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Russian Museum of Military Medicine

    Rare documents, old instruments, and gruesome specimens showcase the history of military medicine.

  • The museum contains two halls, with different types of exhibits.

    Hrodna, Belarus

    Museum of Malformations of the Human Body

    This rare collection of human deformities displays fetuses with two faces, one eye, and "mermaid" legs.

  • Cryptozoology & Paranomal Museum in Littleton.

    Littleton, North Carolina

    Cryptozoology & Paranormal Museum

    Bigfoot prints, Feejee mermaids, and haunted dolls on display in a tiny North Carolina town.

  • Los Angeles, California

    Valley Relics Museum

    One man's vast collection of artifacts and ephemera from matchbooks and postcards to vintage neon signs and cars.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.