‘Syphilis is given over to sentimentalists’: the Dublin Medical Press and Circular and the drive to extend the Contagious Diseases Acts

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (155) ◽  
pp. 399-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Daly
Keyword(s):  
Medical Profession ◽  
Venereal Disease ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
Dublin Medical ◽  
Irish Medical ◽  
Geographical Locations

Abstract In 1878, a meeting organised in Dublin by those in favour of repealing the contentious Contagious Diseases Acts ended in chaos and disruption. The acts themselves empowered police and doctors to forcibly detain and examine women (within specified geographical locations) suspected of being infected with venereal disease. The campaign to abolish the acts appeared to lack the widespread support that it had gathered in England, particularly in medical circles, and the disorderliness of the Dublin meeting seemed to confirm this. The Irish medical press, specifically the weekly Dublin Medical Press and Circular (D.M.P.C.) mirrored The Lancet’s vilification of those who sought to abolish the acts. This article examines the D.M.P.C.’s campaign to extend the acts in Ireland and explores its influence within the context of the debate surrounding these controversial acts. Despite prolific representation of leading English medics among those who opposed the acts, the D.M.P.C. did not offer any outspoken testimony for the repeal of the C.D.A.s by an important figure in the Irish medical profession. This article examines the reasons for such a muted response by Irish doctors to the draconian legislation that directly involved the profession.

The Medical School Marketplace, c.1850–1900

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Bedside Teaching ◽  
Student Behaviour ◽  
Irish Medical

The early nineteenth century has been frequently hailed as the ‘golden age of Irish medicine’ as result of the work of physicians Robert Graves and William Stokes, whose emphasis on bedside teaching earned fame for the Meath Hospital where they were based. However, by the 1850s and for much of the nineteenth century, Irish medical education had fallen into ill-repute. Irish schools were plagued by economic difficulties, poor conditions, sham certificate system, night lectures and grinding, all of these affected student experience in different ways. Furthermore, intense competition between medical schools meant that students wielded a great deal of power as consumers. Irish students had a remarkable amount of freedom with regard to their education and qualifications. As the medical profession became increasingly professionalised, student behaviour improved but disturbances and protests in relation to professional matters or standards of education replaced earlier rowdiness. The nineteenth century also witnessed complaints by medical students about the quality of the education they were receiving, resulting, for example, in a series of visitations to Queen’s College Cork and Queen’s College Galway. This chapter highlights these distinctive aspects of Irish medical education while illustrating the power of Irish students in the period as consumers.

Irish Medical Education and Student Culture, c.1850-1950

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Student Life ◽  
Student Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Irish Medical

This book is the first comprehensive history of medical student culture and medical education in Ireland from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1950s. Utilising a variety of rich sources, including novels, newspapers, student magazines, doctors’ memoirs, and oral history accounts, it examines Irish medical student life and culture, incorporating students’ educational and extra-curricular activities at all of the Irish medical schools. The book investigates students' experiences in the lecture theatre, hospital, dissecting room and outside their studies, such as in ‘digs’, sporting teams and in student societies, illustrating how representations of medical students changed in Ireland over the period and examines the importance of class, religious affiliation and the appropriate traits that students were expected to possess. It highlights religious divisions as well as the dominance of the middle classes in Irish medical schools while also exploring institutional differences, the students’ decisions to pursue medical education, emigration and the experiences of women medical students within a predominantly masculine sphere. Through an examination of the history of medical education in Ireland, this book builds on our understanding of the Irish medical profession while also contributing to the wider scholarship of student life and culture. It will appeal to those interested in the history of medicine, the history of education and social history in modern Ireland.

Opposition to the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1864-1886

1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Police Officer ◽  
Venereal Disease ◽  
Medical Examination ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
The Press ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Armed Services

Between 1864 and 1869, four laws, known as the Contagious Diseases Acts, were passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to reduce venereal disease in the armed services. These Acts, which applied to certain military stations, garrison, and seaport towns, gave a police officer authority to arrest any woman found within the specified areas whom he considered to be a prostitute. The woman in question was then brought before a magistrate who, if he agreed with the arresting officer, would order her to register and submit to a medical examination. If found to be suffering from venereal disease, she was sent to a hospital where she could be detained for three months or longer, at the discretion of the physican in charge. If she refused to submit to the examination or to enter the hospital, she could be imprisoned with or without hard labor.This legislation was enacted at the urging of officials in the War Office and the Admiralty who believed that the efficiency of the army and navy was being dangerously impaired because of the high incidence of venereal disease. Ultimately, they maintained, the security of the nation itself would be jeopardized.Parliament passed these laws very quietly, and the press referred to them only briefly, ostensibly because the subject was not considered seemly for public discussion. Little by little, however, English men and women became aware of this legislation, and with awareness came criticism.

Prostitute or Parasite: The Entanglement of Scientific and Social Victorian Discourses

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Hunniford
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Venereal Disease ◽  
Social Parasite ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Scientific Inspiration

Where does scientific inspiration come from? How does society determine its identity? Biology acts as a source for social metaphor, just as society can be the catalyst to drive scientific discovery. Though the word “parasite” has its origins in Greek drama, it became popularly associated with biology with the advent of the microscope. The story of the “parasite” is complicated by the frequent adoption of biological language to describe society and reinforce constructed social hierarchy. Prostitutes, as a group, are socially “parasitized” in the 19th century largely because of the threat of rapidly spreading venereal disease. The Contagious Diseases Acts, passed from 1864-1869, were a drastic medical solution to a problem that could have been more easily solved through milder social reforms. The primary motivation seems to be a fear of contagion, class mixing, and the weakening of the empire. Both the unseen biological parasite and the prostitute or “social parasite” act as threatening forces in the Victorian mind. The language of primary social and scientific literature from the 19th century shows each discourse being influenced by the other in an inextricably entangled way.

scholarly journals Tom Tiddler’s Ground: Irregular Medical Practitioners and Male Sexual Problems in New Zealand, 1858–1908

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay R. Watson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Venereal Disease ◽  
Sexual Problems ◽  
Sexual Disorders ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Postal Services ◽  
Government Legislation ◽  
Potential Customers ◽  
Growing Population

AbstractIrregular practitioners (‘quacks’) specialising in male sexual problems succeeded in nineteenth-century New Zealand by taking advantage of the growing population of unattached men who were ignorant of their own sexual physiology. The irregulars also profited from the regular practitioners’ acceptance of ill-defined or imaginary male sexual disorders and the side effects of conventional venereal disease treatments, the lack of a clear demarcation between quacks and the regular medical profession, and an increased availability of newspaper advertising. Improvements in the postal system enabled quacks to reach more potential customers by mail, their preferred sales method. The decline in quackery resulted from scientific advances in the understanding of disease and government legislation to privilege regular practitioners and limit quacks’ access to postal services and advertising.

THE IRISH MEDICAL PROFESSION AND THE WAR

BMJ ◽  
1916 ◽  
Vol 2 (2921) ◽  
pp. 888-888
Author(s):  
M. R. J. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Medical Profession ◽  
Irish Medical
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