Mark Akenside
Mark Akenside (1721-1770) was an English physician and poet.
Akenside was one of the first to describe the external manifestations of von Recklinghausen disease (NF-1) and provided the first English description in 1768 as well as ‘Contusio cordis‘ (1763)
A respected poet, his most acclaimed work ‘The Pleasures of the Imagination – a poem, in three books’ was first published in 1744.
Biography
- Born on November 9, 1721 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England
- The second son of Mary Akenside and a Newcastle butcher
- Born into a family of English Dissenters (Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England), he was removed from Newcastle Grammar school and placed in an academy led by religious dissenter
- Attended the University of Edinburgh in 1738 to study theology, but switched to the study of ‘physic’, becoming a member of Edinburgh’s medical society in 1740
- Wrote his most successful poem, The pleasures of imagination, and used the proceeds to travel to the Netherlands to continue his medical study
- Earned a medical degree from the University of Leiden in 1744 after writing his dissertation, De ortu et incremento foetus humani (The Demise of the Preformed Embryo)
- Failed initially as a physician and devoted himself to his literary career until 1750
- Obtained an MD at Cambridge University in 1752 and was allowed to practise legally as a doctor in London in 1753
- Became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1754 and became the Gulstonian Lecturer (1756), Croonian Lecturer (1756) and Harveian orator (1759)
- Physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital in 1759
- Appointed as physician to Queen Charlotte in 1761 (The 2023 Netflix drama, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, is loosely based on her marriage to King George III)
- Published a Latin text on dysentery, De dysenteria commentarius in 1764
- Died on 23rd June, 1770 in London after developing typhus. He is buried in the parish church of St. James, Westminster
Key Medical Attributions
1763 – ‘Contusio cordis’ (Latin for ‘bruising of the heart’). Cardiac contusion was first described as a blow to the chest during an altercation at a public house. In 1762, a teenage boy presented to hospital with palpitations. Six months previously, whilst working as a waiter in a serving house, the master whom he was serving gave him a blow, pushing the plate he was carrying into his ribs. The boy died 3 days later.
1767 – First described the external manifestations of von Recklinghausen disease (Neurofibromatosis Type 1, published in 1768 [Medical Transactions 1768; 1: 64-92]. Akenside treated a man In St. Thomas’s hospital who presented with multiple “wens” on his head, trunk, arms, and legs that he had inherited from this father. This man cut off the wens with a razor but found that they grew “by five or six suckers”.
Major Publications
Medical publications
- Akenside M. An epistle to Curio. London: Dodsley. 1744
- Akenside M. Odes on several subjects. London: Dodsley. 1745
- Akenside M. The pleasures of imagination: a poem, in three books. London: Dodsley. 1757
- Akenside M. An ode to the country gentlemen of England. London: Dodsley. 1758
- Akenside M. An Account of a Blow upon the Heart, and of Its, Effects. Royal Society of London. 1763. [Contusio cordis]
- Akenside M. De Dysenteria Commentarius. Londini: Dodsley. 1764
- Akenside M. Observations on cancers. Medical Transactions. Royal College of Physicians of London. 1768;1:64-92. [von Recklinghausen disease]
Poetry
The Pleasures of the Imagination – a poem, in three books was first published in 1744.
- Book I: defines the powers of imagination and pleasure that can be derived from the perception of beauty;
- Book II: distinguishes works of imagination from philosophy;
- Book III: describes the pleasure to be found in the study of man, the sources of ridicule, the operations of the mind, in producing works of imagination, and the influence of imagination on morals.
References
Biography
- Biography: Mark Akenside. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Munk’s Roll: Volume II:195.
- Dix, R. (July 2009). A Newly Discovered Manuscript Dedication by Mark Akenside. Medical History: Volume 53(3)
- Solly M. 2023, ‘The Real History Behind ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”, Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-real-history-behind-queen-charlotte-a-bridgerton-story-180982130/
Eponymous terms
- Charles J. Mark Akenside. The British Medical Journal. 1957 December; Vol. 2, No 5059: 1449-1453
- Gilfillan G. The poetical works of Mark Akenside. New York: AMS Press. 1969 [Reprint of the 1845 ed. compiled by Alexander Dyce]
- Kohl P, Nesbitt AD, Cooper PJ, Lei M. Sudden cardiac death by Commotio cordis: role of mechano-electric feedback. Cardiovasc Res. 2001 May;50(2):280-9.
Eponym
the person behind the name
Dr Susie Liddiard MBBCh, Cardiff University, Wales. Currently working at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Emergency Department, Perth.
