On Dec.10, Enrichment students went to the Mutter Museum for a class trip. The students got to see many of the museum’s exhibits, most of which depicted medical anomalies using wax models and antique medical equipment. One exhibit showed the museum’s collection of real human skulls, known as their famous Hyrtl Skull collection.

Students participated in a comparative skull drawing class using skulls from the collection as guides. John Nealis, a senior who went on the trip, talked about what the class was like. “We met with an educator and she told us the basics about how skulls can be used to help identify things like racial background to your gender or even sometimes how old you are.” Features like the size or shape or even how many teeth there are can help determine those details.

Students observed the skulls to find similarities and differences among them. Nealis said, “With men and women, men have a lot more broader features while women have much more finer or thinner features.”

Students were taught how to draw skulls as well. “You start with an oval or egg shape and then you draw lines for perspective. The faces are cut into proportions so the lines also help determine where certain features will be. Eyes are about halfway down your face and the center of the eye socket is in line with the side of your mouth. The proportions of the features tend to be the same, but the sizes vary with different skulls,” said Nealis. 

The Mutter Museum offers many other classes along with the skull drawing for students who are interested in fascinating medical discoveries and want to become “disturbingly informed.”