But the good doctor's opinion would be irrelevant. Today, while the Center City museum that bears his name remains an important source for medical research, it's also an increasingly popular tourist attraction. And why not? No place else in America boasts such a bizarre, but endlessly fascinating, collection of malformed skeletons, super-sized tumors, preserved organs and anatomical anomalies.

According to administrative coordinator and designer, Brandon Zimmerman, the Mutter owes it transition from being the exclusive province of physicians to a tourism hot spot to Gretchen Worden, the long-time curator who died in 2004.

"Her legacy was to bring the museum into the public eye. It really started in the late-1970s," he explained. "She was the one to say, "This is an important collection, and you need to come and see it.' "

Today, added Zimmerman, the typical Mutter visitor is between the ages of 18 and 32. He said the reason for the bi-level repository's popularity is that it is "a deviation from the normal, touristy things to do."

That is an understatement. The Mutter Museum, which bills itself as "disturbingly informative," has no equals -- at least in the city, and maybe the nation -- when it comes to its treasures. Among the highlights: The "Soap Lady," the corpse of a woman covered in adipocera, a gray-white substance with a waxy consistency resulting from decomposition of body tissue. The plaster death casts of Chang and Eng Bunker, the famed 19th century conjoined twins who were made into global celebrities by legendary promoter P.T. Barnum. Drawers filled with scores of antique items -- open safety pins, coins, toys -- retrieved from the stomachs of people who swallowed them. The tumor removed during top-secret surgery from the jaw of President Grover Cleveland. A 7 1/2-foot skeleton -- believed to be the largest in the world. A collection of dozens of skulls from the 19th century. Several seriously enlarged organs including a giant colon (resembling a sea lion) and an ovarian cyst 43 centimeters (almost 17 inches) in diameter.

Not every item is authentic. Some displays -- including those spotlighting diseases of the eye and leprosy -- feature lifelike wax models.

"It's disturbing and gross, but very interesting," said Emily Coderre, a 23-year-old medical researcher from Burlington, Vt., during a recent visit while in Philadelphia for a conference. She added the museum made her realize that "It's just amazing that any one of us turns out (physically) normal."

Also on their first tour of the facility were Allan Kotter, a 26-year-old house painter from Gloucester City, and his friend, Stacy Smith, 23, of South Philadelphia.

"It's fantastic, overwhelming really," said Kotter, who identified the display of 19th-century medical instruments as the one he found most interesting. "You can't look away from even some of the most gross exhibits."

Smith's reaction to the museum's wares was more visceral.

"It sends tingles down your spine," she declared. "It's just weird."

IF YOU GO
What: The Mutter Museum is located inside the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S. 22nd St., Philadelphia

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday

Admission: $12 (ages 18-64); $8 (6-17, 65 and older, students with ID); free (under 6).

Phone: (215) 563-3737

Online: www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp

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