Hippocrates Revived

Opened by the Minister for Tourism,Culture and Sport, Ms Mary Hanafin T.D. on the 21st of June 2010,the current exhibition is entitled 'Hippocrates Revived'. It contains early books on medicine from the collections in Marsh's, richly illustrated with woodcuts and engravings.

The exhibition starts with the ancient Greek medical writers Hippocrates and Galen. The majority of the books deal with the famous doctors and medical problems of the 16th and 17th centuries. These include William Harvey’s discovery on the circulation of the blood, Robert Boyle’s Memoirs for the natural history of humane blood, and Richard Lower’s exciting innovations and experiments in cardiology. There is an account by Jean Baptiste Denis, physician to Louis XIV, who performed the first recorded transfusion of blood into a human being on 15 June 1667.

The case entitled ‘The Black Bile’ contains a book by Johannes Wier, De praestigiis daemonum, which caused a storm of criticism in 1563 as he suggested witches’ confessions were delusions. Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, with its engraved title page.

Under the section entitled ‘The Subtle Knife’ we have Wilhelm Fabricius (Hildanus), called the father of German surgery, who was the first to use magnets to extract iron slivers from the eye and the first to operate successfully for gallstones. Also here is Francois Tolet, master surgeon from Paris, who wrote a treatise in 1686 on lithotomy or the extraction of the stone from the bladder. The illustrations show in startling detail the operating methods.

The case on Irish doctors or those operating in Ireland includes works by 17th century physicians Edmund O’Meara and Bernard Connor . In the 18th century the philosopher George Berkeley wrote about tar water as a cure and John Rutty wrote about the qualities of Irish mineral waters. A book by Charles Allen deals with the anatomy of the teeth, and the replacement of missing teeth with transplants or substitutes. Printed in the 1680s, it is the earliest known book in English devoted exclusively to the treatment of the teeth.

The section on maternity contains a book by the French midwife Louyse Bourgeois, who wrote the first book on obstetrics by a midwife, and a work by François Mauriceau, one of the leading obstetricians in France. Mauriceau introduced the practice of delivering his patients in bed instead of in the obstetrical chair and was the first to describe tubal pregnancy. The illustrations show difficult birth presentations.

One outstanding book in the Anatomy section is Bidloo’s Anatomia humani corporis, printed in 1685,which contains magnificent fine copperplate engravings. There are sections on chemistry and on diseases of the eye and ear. The case entitled ‘Frauds and Freaks’ contains books on monsters and quacks, and includes a pamphlet printed anonymously in Dublin in 1725 suggesting the punishment of castration for quack doctors and apothecaries.

The Exhibition is open to the public during the Library’s normal working hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri.: 9.30–1.00 and 2.00–5.00; Sat. 10.00–1.00. (Closed Tues. & Sun.)