If he's got THAT in a box in his living room, he would kind of have to.
As is the case with most antiques, the older a collectible medical relic is, and the nicer it is, the more you can plan to shell out for it. A 19th century wax teaching model isn't equivalent to, say, a 18th century surgeon's kit with ivory-handled bone saws in a velvet-lined hardwood box. But it ain't chump change, neither. If Bash got this out of the estate for less than a few thousand, he should have done it wearing a balaclava and gloves.
Anatomical waxes (wax moulage) are most likely to be found in older, less squeamish medical museums these days, but private collections do exist; Christie's auctioned one off piece by piece in 2001 (NWS). Bash's pride and joy is modest compared to some of the waxes featured in that lot, but he's a doctor, not an oil baron.
His original object of interest, leech jars, are... well, pretty much exactly what they sound like. They were jars for holding leeches, which surgeons used (and still use) for bloodletting. They can be anything from glass bowls to gilded ceramic urns. And they're popular with buyers, since they're not aesthetically revolting/mysterious, plentiful, and wonderful conversation pieces. They're also a bit of a minefield for the serious collector of medical antiques, as fakes and replicas of the things are as common as muck. (Translation: Never buy one on eBay.)
And "Syphiology" was a real field, before the advent of simple antibiotics. Syphilis was capable of some truly heinous disfigurement when left unchecked; Syphiology and dermatology were basically interchangeable specialties prior to penicillin. "Syphiology" also has one of the lowest numbers of search results for a correctly-spelled single word I've ever seen, for those of you into Googlewhacking.
I could get really, really obnoxious about Bash's hobby... One I would probably have if I ever hit the lottery, to be honest. But Googling "medical antiques" or just visiting one of my favorite sites on the subject is enough to satisfy, I think.
More later!
Panels 1 and 2 are brilliant.
For weeks I've been oogling the Mutter Museum's conjoined twin fetus skeletons and making jewelry about them, and you and Dr. Bash partly to blame. That and the fact that they're just so cool.
I look at these first two panels and think "Chuck Jones died and was reincarnated as a woman named Spike..."
that brooding pause in the first panel is epic.
also... medical museums are great, especially when they have specific sections for quackery. that site is definitely going into my bookmarks.
Indeed the first two panels are chock full of win. (Although it just occurred to me that they could be interpreted as showing that Dr. Bash has the apartment lights hooked up to The Clapper.)
Plus, Dr. Bash is starting to sound like Kelsey Grammer in my head, only a little more demented and a bit more fabulous in turn.
Love the last panel, as the "implications" sink in.
I'm with Uthor and Sean K. on this one. The use of flat background shading in the first two panels is hilarious. I can almost hear the perky music taking back over in #2.
If 'syphiology' isn't the way to spell that word, then Google's not the main offender. I've heard specialists refer to it as 'syphilology,' and that's the spelling the OED has.
Brilliant comic. I have a feeling you would love to see all the lovely ancient veterinary equipment I had to cart up to the loft las month at the clinic where I am employed. Late 19th/Early 20th century "portable xray machine" is all I really have to say, methinks. Kennels that would make you shudder, markedly antiquated examination equipment. But more impressive were the slides, in my humble opinion. I want them. Box of slides, of various intestinal parasites, early to late stages, stained and heat-fixed under a coverslip, a good 50 different specimens, wide range of species. Magnificent. Eheh, whaaaaat?
That Doctor is fucking brilliant. He can go from 'Normal' to *HATE* in under a second.
Well, that settles it: Dr. Bash is my fuckin' hero.