Museum puts humans on display

Museum puts humans on display

Museum puts humans on display_ With the music of classical guitar filling the rooms, Bodies … The Exhibition gets the dignity it deserves.

Bodies … The Exhibition is on display at Dallas’ West End Market Place.

In the exhibition, visitors can view specimens exposing different parts of the body including the muscle, skeletal, circulatory, nervous and digestive systems.

Each of these specimens were at one time living people. All specimens excluding some fetuses were collected from China.

Walking around in lab coats, staff members answer visitors’ questions.

Some questions posed to them quite often are “Are these specimens real?” “Why are their lungs so dark?” and “Why aren’t there as many females as males?”

The lungs are dark because of the preserving process each specimen goes through. The process is called polymer preservation. It entails human tissue being preserved with a silicon rubber.

In one section in the exhibit, visitors can discover firsthand how surprisingly rubbery a human heart feels after it has gone through the polymer preservation.

The most interesting part of the exhibit begins with a sign that reads, “Pause before entering this gallery, it displays embryonic and fetal development.”

In this gallery, visitors will see what fetuses look like from 7 to 15 weeks old. In each fetus, an incision is made at the top of the skull where all remaining tissue and brain have been removed, thus leaving only the fetus’ bones exposed.

All fetuses collected for this part of the exhibit had died in-utero.

The exhibit, includes seven full-bodied specimens, some are posed in various stances. One body stands erect and holds a baton as if conducting a symphony.

Another stands holding a football.

Only two aspects to the bodies are artificial. One, the eyes for each specimen are not real, simply because eyes do not preserve. Two, the bodies are airbrushed to show muscle more defined.

Visitors beware: All of the bodies’ genitals, still intact, are exposed for viewing. Those considering taking small children to the exhibit may need to know this information.

Bodies … The Exhibition will run 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday through May. Adult tickets are $22 weekdays and $24 weekends. Children, seniors and military tickets are discounted.

source: edu