Cadavers

Since Friday and through this Saturday we have visitors staying at 11o1. Matt and his girlfriend Viv are visiting NY for just over a week to relax and have a holiday and perhaps a broadway show.

Now what would be the first thing you take visitors to see in NY? Answer: Cadavers.

There is an exhibition of human cadavers down at the South Street Seaport right now. It was expensive to get into but completely worth it. You basically spend an hour and a half looking at human dissections of all the major systems in the body. Circulatory, Respiratory, Reproductive, Endocrine, and more. They literally separate each system from each other so you can see what just one looks like. There are also cadavers with all body parts intact.

Some of the dissections made my stomach turn. I'll openly admit that. But the Circulatory system was amazing. The small red branches extending through the torso, or the arm look like red coral. How they were able to separate such small fine blood vessels, I'll never understand. But it was beautiful.

The most revolting and fascinating thing I saw was the Dermoid cyst. It is on the ovaries, and can grow teeth and hair. I saw an ovary with teeth and hair! It was baffling.

I also saw a thyroid with cancer, and a thyroid without. It was very strange to see what the sick part of my body looked like, and what is no longer inside me.

This exhibit makes you reflect on your health, your body, and the ways in which we treat ourselves. I would recommend it to anyone for a very emotional and educational time.