The American Museum of Veterinary Medicine has acquired several thousand artifacts and tools covering the past 150 years of veterinary medicine.

Among these are instruments such as those in the “Dental Display,” early and modern anesthesia equipment, a 1939
x-ray machine for animals, and a replica of a 1920 operating room.

One display case holds early trephine instruments. A trephine is similar to a carpenter’s saw and was used to cut out a circular piece of skull. This was done over the facial sinus of a horse to remove a molar tooth. The tooth would have to be punched out because a horse’s mouth cannot be opened far enough to extract the tooth through the mouth.
Another display instrument is the fleam, a blood-letting instrument dating back many centuries. Blood-letting was done to rid the body of diseases that were thought to be caused by the humors of the body ( blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile) being out of proportion. Hence, blood-letting removed “bad blood.” When diseases were discovered to be caused by bacteria in the early 1900s, the blood-letting practice was discontinued.

A milk laboratory scale on display was used to determine butter fat content in milk and a calf dehorner (circa 1900) was used to gouge out the horn buds on calves.

Other veterinary tools on display include the uniform, saddle, traveling chest, officer’s manuals, and veterinary instruments of Dr. Russell S. Detwiler, who served in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps during World War I. Also on display are some of Dr. Detwiler’s letters sent home from the battlefield explaining challenges Army veterinarians faced in treating glanders, a contagious bacterial disease that affected horses. Dr. Detwiler’s son, Dr. Richard H. Detwiler, also is a veterinarian and is treasurer of the AMVM.

The museum is working to showcase exhibits that emphasize veterinary medicine---“Past, Present, and Future…One Medicine, Different Species.” One such exhibit now on display is the Stader Splint, an external fixator invented by veterinarian Otto Stader to heal the femur of a chow dog after the dog repeatedly chewed off his cast. The splint was adapted for use in humans by the U.S. Navy.

The museum also has procured early records and artifacts from the Schuylkill Valley Veterinary Medical Assn. that has the distinction of being one of the oldest in the United States.

The AMVM also has in its collection an early veterinary ambulance formerly used by the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to pick up sick and injured large animals. This antique ambulance may have been horse-drawn originally and later adapted to motorized transport. It was built around the 1920s and is eight-feet high. Frank Jarret of Hatboro donated the ambulance to the AMVM. The ambulance now is in need of restoration.

Located next to the Ridgewood farmhouse, now the museum’s main building, is a small summer kitchen (circa 1850) which has been restored to represent a 1900-era veterinarian office. Many of the artifacts, including a small desk, were in a Reading veterinarian’s office.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, most veterinarian practices were confined to the treatment of horses. Rural and small-town veterinarians had offices located near blacksmith shops or livery stables. In larger cities, such as Philadelphia, New York City, and Chicago, veterinarians maintained hospitals treating dogs and cats, as well as horses. Very few veterinarians limited their practices to small animals. And some held other jobs, such as postmaster, real estate salesman, or hotel owner, in addition to treating animals. And many veterinarians were farmers.

AMVM displays stress the importance that veterinary medicine has had on both animals and humans over the past two centuries. We invite you to visit our museum and learn more about the role veterinary medicine played and continues to play in history.