The Huse Collection

The unique medical collection displayed below is from Dr. Charles Archelaus Huse's medical office, circa 1884 in Worcester, Massachusetts. The collection includes Dr. Huse's Cammann stethoscope, surgical instrument kit, urethral silver catheters, patient records, patient receipts, letter from the Dudley & Sheppard instrument company dated 1877 where Dr. Huse purchased his medical instruments, medical student ticket to Harvard Medical School dated 1879-80, and sign from his office in Worcester. Dr. Huse was born on August 7, 1855 in Worcester, graduated Brown University in 1878 and  Harvard Medical School in 1881. After graduation from Harvard, he served as the Boston Board of Health Assistant Port Physician for 14 months stationed at Deer Island. In the summer of 1882, he moved back to his hometown of Worcester and established his practice of medicine and surgery. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Worcester Society for Medical Improvement from 1882-1884. Dr. Huse died prematurely at age 29 from "peritonitis" after a nine-day illness on July 3, 1884, just two years prior to the publication of the classic paper by his former Harvard Professor, Dr. Fitz, identifying the cause of most cases of peritonitis as the rupture of an inflamed appendix, which required surgical resection as the definitive treatment. The Huse antique medical collection represents a truly unique look at this promising young physician and the practice of medicine in the late 19th century.