Meath Hospital

The Meath Hospital (Ospidéal na Mí) was the oldest voluntary hospital in continuous existence in Ireland; the oldest university teaching hospital; and a most significant hub of medical eponyms and notable names.

Historical timeline of Meath hospital

• 1753 – Founded to care for the sick and poor of the Liberties
• 1774 – Took on the mantle of the County Dublin Infirmary
• 1822 – Hospital moved to Heytesbury Street. Became focus of the Dublin School of Medicine. Graves and Stokes introduced bedside teaching to the English-speaking world
• 1998 – Hospital moved to Tallaght in 1998.

1844 – The first hypodermic injection was administered by Francis Rynd, surgeon in the hospital

Notable Names

• John Cheyne (1777-1836); physician to the Meath hospital 1811-1817
• Sir Philip Crampton (1777–1858); surgeon to the hospital in 1798
• Robert Graves (1796-1853); physician from 1821-1843
• William Stokes (1804-1878); physician from 1826-1875
• Francis Rynd (1801-1861); physician and inventor of the hypodermic syringe
• Rawdon Macnamara (1822–1893); appointed Meath surgeon in 1861
• Lambert Hepenstal Ormsby (1850-1923); surgeon to the hospital 1872-1923
• Richard Lane Joynt (1867-1928); surgeon to the hospital and one of the first radiologists in Ireland

Literary associations

The site of the hospital (the Dean’s Vineyard) was where Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) kept a garden and a paddock for his horse – the wall of the hospital along Long Lane incorporates parts of the wall built by Dean Swift.

James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849) and Brendan Behan (1923-1964) were patients and spent their last days in the Meath Hospital.

The poet, author, and otolaryngologist, Oliver St John Gogarty (1878-1967) was on the staff of the hospital from 1911 to 1939. The fictional character of Malachi “Buck” Mulligan in James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses is partly based on Gogarty, a close companion of Joyce.

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: “Introibo ad altare Dei“

Opening line to Ulysses, 1922

References

Meath hospital publications

• Graves RJ, Stokes W. Clinical reports, of the medical cases in the Meath Hospital and County of Dublin Infirmary, during the session 1826. 1827
• Stokes W. An address delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital, 1845
• Rynd F. Neuralgia – introduction of fluid to the nerve. Dublin Med Press 1845; 13: 167–168
• Stokes W. An address delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital, 1847
• Stokes W. Medical education: a discourse delivered at the Meath Hospital, 1861
• Collis MH. An address delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital, 1867
• Stokes W. Medical ethics: a discourse delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital, 1869
• Stokes W. Lectures on fever: delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital and County of Dublin Infirmary, 1874
• Macnamara R. An address delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital and County of Dublin Infirmary. 1885
• Ormsby LH. The social, scientific and political influence of the medical profession: an inaugural address, delivered in the theatre of the Meath Hospital, 1886

Historical references

• Ormsby LH. Medical history of the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary 1753-1888. Dublin: Fannin, 1888
• Coakley D. The Irish School of Medicine: Outstanding Practitioners of the 19th Century. Dublin: Town House. 1988
• Gatenby P. Dublin’s Meath Hospital, 1753-1996. Dublin: Town House. 1996.
• O’Neill D. The Meath Hospital, Dublin. Hektoen International Journal 2015