Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology

In Culver City, California, David Wilson operates The Museum of Jurassic Technology. There, the visitor learns that the breath of a duck will cure children of fungal infections of the mouth, and that bedwetting is curable by "eating a mouse on toast, fur and all". All of the exhibits are properly researched and referenced, but many of the sources lead the inquisitive visitor to slightly warped sources. In fact, Mr. Wilson's museum is as much a work of art and imagination as it is of science. Its purpose is to reawaken our sense of wonder. Mr. Weschler leads the reader through a fascinating history of museums of natural science and the "Cabinets of Wonder" that preceded them. A precursor can be found in the September, 1994 Harper's Magazine, and there is a WWW page for the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Publication information
Pick Attribution: 

Lawrence Weschler

Publication Date: 
Monday, January 1, 1996
Price: 
$13.95
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