At the weave silk workshop we had the opportunity to learn about the weaving process. When we were in the workshop our guide was able to show us the process of making elegant weaves that costed up to 9000 euros per meter. Further in, she told us that the only way to make such master pieces was to memorize the colors and weave patterns. She told us that there are not that many people left who know how to use these machines, with the number around 8000.. I enjoyed learning more about the punch card system. It's another example of how far we have come with technology but also proves that if the method isn't broken don't fix it.

At the Musée de Medicine, when our instructor discussed how the people back then protected their eyes, I found that very interesting. They would put charcoal in their eyes because they thought that would protect their eyes from the sun. I could not imagine putting charcoal in my eyes. That must have hurt. I found the museum very informational and I hope to go back one day.

I really enjoyed the Masion Des Canuts. They showed us how to use the loom and how they had to memorize the pattern before they started. Also how they have to put the spool of thread through the threads that lifted up. It was older than the loom that was showed in Berlin which was cool to see the differences in the two machines, and how it was improved. I thought it was very interesting.

One part I found interesting at the Museum of Medicine was the prosthetic they made for the diamond cutters. It was unique because it only had 3 fingers on it, the thumb, index, and middle finger. It was very interesting because usually prosthetics would be a full hand with all five fingers, but they engineered these perfectly because the diamond cutters usually injured those three fingers the most.

Heidi's post: I found the electifing thing to be very amusing. To have the doctors shock people in order to cure them of demons or depression seems odd to me. I'm curious to know how they determined who had a demon inside of them and why they came up with this idea in the first place.

At the Maison Des Canuts, I found it really interesting that the way the old draw loom worked before the Jacquard Loom was that the strings had to be physically pulled. It was really cool to see it work in person and how much memorization has to go into the pattern. The punch cards would lift up certain threads and the weaver wraps the specific color for the lines and then switches it again to a different pattern of rows on the punch card.

I thought the development of the scalpel at the Museum of Medicine was very interesting. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable on the subject. What kinda disgusted me was the story of the person who had an abscess under his skin and a special scalpel was made to cut into his arm. Unfortunately, the guy was in too much pain to complete the procedure.