Description
Book SynopsisFinanced through the will of Dr Richard Steevens (1653-1710), and brought into existence by his surviving twin sister, Griselda, Dr Steevens' Hospital (1733) rapidly became a vital institution in the city of Dublin's provision of health care. In its origins, it was promoted by leading citizens, including Jonathan Swift and William King. Throughout its long period of activity, it advanced medical science in both the clinical and educational spheres. Abraham Colles (1773-1843) was only one of its world-renowned surgeons and physicians. To its doors were brought the victims of Invincible crime in 1882.T. P. C. Kirkpatrick's magisterial account of Steeven's was the greatest of his many medical publications, rich in detail, attentive to historical context, and ably conveying the professional significance of the work undertaken throughout the decades and centuries. Privately distributed by subscription in 1924, it is now re-published to mark the 275th anniversary of the hospital's opening, together with all the original photographs.
Trade Review"Kirkpatrick was a significant figure in the medical world in the first part of the twentieth century - [He] gives a grand, old fashioned, narrative of the institution charting its progress and development from its early days. This volume is also a small addition to the social history of Dublin in that it includes a list of subscribers which reads like a medical Who's Who not just of Dublin but of some far-flung corners of the British Empire such as Karachi and Cairo." Books Ireland Nov 08 "Steevens' Hospital was the second oldest hospital in Ireland in modern times, after the Charitable Infirmary, Jervis Street Hospital. It survived until the end of 1987; the following July the site was purchased by the Eastern Health Board, it is now the administrative headquarters of the HSE and also houses the valuable Edward Worth Library. How the institution became a leading modern hospital, noted for advances in medicine and surgery in the last century, is described entertainingly by T. Percy Kirkpatrick, the Derry-born doyen of medical historians, who was Registrar of the Royal College of Physicians and a noted classicist. The history was privately distributed by subscription in 1924; it was republished recently to mark the 275th anniversary of the hospital's opening, together with all the original photographs. The book is a treasure trove of information about a city and its people in a vanished time, when citizens travelled by ferry (owned by the hospital) across 'Anna Liffey' from the northern bank of the river, at a slipway where a bridge was later built and called The King's Bridge." Books Ireland February 2010
Table of ContentsIntroductory; Dublin in 1700; Richard Steevens, The trustees of Dr Steevens' will; Preparations for the building; The trustees of Madam Steevens' deed; The opening of the hospital; Edward Worth - the Worth library; Swift and the hospital; The completion of the hospital; Early medical and surgical practice in the hospital; Changes in the staff; The hospital property; Closing years of the eighteenth century; Philip Woodroffe; Cusack as resident surgeon; The fever epidemic of 1817-1818; Regulations for medical practice in 1825; Medical teaching in Dublin; South's scheme for the school; Women students; Nursing in the hospital; Improvements in the hospital; The hospital stewards; Appendices; References; Index.
