What if I told you that you could die from a common infection? What if your doctor thought that he didn’t need to wash his hands because he believed that a gentleman is always clean? Modern medicine has come a long way since the early 19th century. In Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s book “Dr. Mutter’s Marvels: A Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine,” we are given a glimpse into a world of medicine before the times of sterilization and bedside manner.

Aptowicz’s novel shows us the lives of the many talented doctors at Thomas Jefferson University, but focuses on an amazing plastic surgeon by the name of Thomas Dent Mutter. Mutter was a revolutionary in the field of medicine. From pioneering what were considered outrages for the era to being the first Philadelphian surgeon to use ethyl ether anesthesia on a patient, Mutter cared about his patients beyond what was “acceptable” to his colleagues. He was an outspoken man who believed in what he did and that it was something that could always be improved for the sake of the people that walked through the college’s front door.

One of the main problems with many historical biographies is that the story can come across as dead as the subject matter. With Aptowicz’s novel, the reader is not only given information that is historically accurate but highly entertaining. Thomas Mutter was a man ahead of his time. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a doctor and did everything he could to succeed. This biography was very hard to put down and not easy to forget. The title was a little misleading at first but once I got to the last page I understood why they were “Mutter’s Marvels.”

In history there are a lot of men that the world cannot forget. Sadly, Thomas Dent Mutter is not a well known man, though he should be. Not only was ha a genius, but he was a wonderful human who didn’t think himself a god just because he wielded a scalpel. Mutter gave hope to the hopeless in a time where hope was in short supply. He accomplished so much in such a short life and there are many people that can only hope to be as marvelous.