Richard Mead
Richard Mead | |
---|---|
Born | 11 August 1673 Stepney, London |
Died | 16 February 1754 | (aged 80)
Nationality | English |
Known for | Epidemiology |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Medicine |
Doctoral advisor | JG Graevius |
Richard Mead,
Life
The eleventh of thirteen children of
His Mechanical Account of Poisons appeared in 1702, and, in 1703, he was admitted to the
While in the service of the king, Mead got involved in the creation of a new charity, the
Mead was also a Fellow of the
Mead was a collector of paintings, rare books, classical sculpture, gems and zoological specimens, which he made available for study at the library in his Bloomsbury house.[2][3] His collection consisted of 10,000 volumes.[4] In 1752 he received a letter from Camillo Paderni, concerning the progress at the excavations of the Villa of the Papyri.[5] After his death, it took 56 days to auction them to book collectors from England and abroad.[6] His "Genuine and Entire Collection of Valuable Gems, Bronzes, Marble and other Busts and Antiquities" was auctioned by Abraham Langford at his house in the Great Piazza, Covent Garden on 11-15 March 1755.[7]
Mead's country estate was at Old Windsor in Berkshire, but he died at his house in Bloomsbury in 1754. His London home later formed the basis of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Mead was buried in Temple Church. A monument to him was placed in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey,[8] with a bust by Peter Scheemakers.[9]
Religious views
In 1755 was published (posthumously) Mead's Medica Sacra; Or, A commentary on the most remarkable diseases, mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. He made use of the work of his relative Joseph Mede's Doctrine of Demons and also of his once patient Isaac Newton's Chronology to argue that pagan ideas regarding demons had entered Christianity. Like Arthur Ashley Sykes and others, Mead understood those afflicted by demons in the New Testament to refer simply to those suffering from a variety of illnesses:
That the Daemoniacs, daimonizomenoi, mentioned in the gospels, laboured under a disease really natural, though of an obstinate and difficult kind, appears to me very probable from the accounts given of them.[10]
Yet, Verses 28-34, in the
Possible foibles
Mead is satirised in
Works
Besides the Mechanical Account of Poisons (2nd ed, 1708), Mead published:
- a treatise De Imperio Solis ac Lunae in Corpora humana, & Morbis inde oriundis (On the Influence of the Sun and Moon upon Human Bodies and the Diseases Arising Therefrom) (1704)
- A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it (1720)
- De variolis et morbillis dissertatio (1747)
- Medica sacra, sive de morbis insignioribus qui in bibliis memorantur commentarius (1748)
- On the Scurvy (1749) [1]
- Monita et praecepta medica . Grund & Holle, Hamburgi 1752 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Life of Mead by Dr Matthew Maty appeared in 1755.
- Pharmacopoeia [Pharmacopoea] Meadiana : faithfully gathered from original Prescriptions, containing the most elegant Methods of Cure in Diseases ; to which are annexed useful Observations upon each Prescription ; the whole digested under proper Heads . Hinton, London 1756 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
References
- ^ Alphabetical List of Fellows of the Royal Society who were Freemasons Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. freemasonry.lmfm.net
- ^ A catalogue of the genuine and entire collection of valuable gems, bronzes, marble and other busts and antiquities, of the late Doctor Mead, 1755
- ^ Obituary in Munk's Roll
- ^ Arthur Mee (January 1951) [April 1939]. The Counties of Bedford and Huntingdon. p. 97.
- ^ Camillo Paderni (1752). "Extract of a Letter from Signor Camillo Paderni, to Dr. Mead, concerning the Antiquities Dug up from the Antient Herculaneum". Royal Society of London. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ Jonathan A. Hill bookseller: Catalogue 203, 2012, p. 52
- ^ Langford, Mr [Abraham] (1755). A Catalogue of the Genuine and Entire Collection of Valuable Gems, Bronzes, Marble and other Busts and Antiquities of the Late Doctor Mead, etc. London: Mr Langford.
- ^ 'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p17: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966
- ^ Memorial in Westminster Abbey
- ^ Richard Meade, ‘Medica Sacra; Or, A commentary on the most remarkable diseases, mentioned in the Holy Scriptures’, page 73, 1755
- ^ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1079/1079-h/1079-h.htm L. Sterne, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" (1759-67)
- ^ M. New, ed., "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: The Notes" (1984)
- ^ G. Petrie ed., Lawrence Sterne: Tristram Shandy (1976) p. 617
Sources
- Zuckerman, A (Summer 2004). "Plague and contagionism in eighteenth-century England: the role of Richard Mead". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 78 (2): 273–308. S2CID 37307465.
- Jordanova, L (September 2003). "Portraits, people and things: Richard Mead and medical identity". History of Science. 41 (133 Pt 3): 293–313. S2CID 41089365.
- Roos, AM (Fall 2000). "Luminaries in medicine: Richard Mead, James Gibbs, and solar and lunar effects on the human body in early modern England". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 74 (3): 433–57. S2CID 10829481.
- Riesman, D (March 1985). "Dr. Richard Mead and the motto of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia". Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 7 (1): 33–41. PMID 3887688.
- Mann, RJ (July 1973). "Historical vignette. Richard Mead, M.D., 1673–1754. 18th-Century exemplar of 'experience and reason'". Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 48 (7): 503–6. PMID 4577312.
- Abbott, JL (Autumn 1971). "Samuel Johnson and 'The Life of Dr. Richard Mead'". PMID 11616730.
- "Richard Mead (1673–1754) successor to John Radcliffe". JAMA. 208 (11): 2156–7. June 1969. PMID 4890693.
- Barnett Cf, Jr (March 1963). "Richard MEAD: a neglected polyhistor". The New Physician. 12: A58–A60. PMID 13969385.
- Carter, HS (July 1958). "Richard Mead". Scottish Medical Journal. 3 (7): 320–4. S2CID 29923304.
- "RICHARD MEAD: pioneer and patron". British Medical Journal. 1 (4858): 392. February 1954. PMID 13115737.
- Hanson, Craig (1 April 2003). "Dr Richard Mead and Watteau's 'Comédiens Italiens'". The Burlington Magazine. 145 (1201). The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.: 265–272. JSTOR 3100665.
- Meade, Richard Hardway (1974). In the Sunshine of Life: A Biography of Dr. Richard Mead, 1673–1754. Philadelphia: Dorrance. ISBN 978-0-8059-1921-9.
- Zuckerman, Arnold (1965). "Dr. Richard Mead (1674–1753): A Biographical Study". Urbana: University of Illinois.
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(help) - Nichols, R. H.; Wray, F. A. (1935). The History of the Foundling Hospital. London: Oxford University Press.
- Munk, William. "Richard Mead". Lives of the Fellows. II: 40. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mead, Richard". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 945. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Media related to Richard Mead at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by Richard Mead at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Richard Mead at Internet Archive
- Works by Richard Mead at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)