The author gives a short survey of the beginnings of the Museum of the History of Medicine at the University of Zurich, created by Gustav Adolf Wehrli, MD (1888-1949), and of its further development. He insists on the present-day interest of such a museum: the study of ancient tools of the art of healing may elucidate complex problems that still defy the profession, and the presentation of such objects in a wide cultural and historical context may lead the attentive visitor to a better understanding of modern medicine.