RCSI Heritage Collections

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) military surgeons carried a book with them through the battlefields and army hospitals. This book was adopted by the Surgeon-General of the United States Army soon after it's publication in Dublin in 1860. It was a 'bible' to army surgeons. The book was Anatomy of the Arteries of the Human Body, Descriptive and Surgical with the Descriptive Anatomy of the Heart by one John Hatch Power FRCSI. Power's Anatomy of the Arteries of the Human Body published in 1860 John Hatch Power was born on 24 November 1806 in Dublin. From a young age he showed an interest and aptitude in surgery. So after receiving some instruction in surgery he was apprenticed to Robert Adams at the age of 19. On 7 May 1831 Power received his licence from the College and soon afterwards became Demonstrator in the Richmond Medical School. In 1838 he graduated M.D. from Glasgow University and in December 1844 Power became a Fellow of the College. Powe...

In April 1865 Mary Anne Dooley, a 14 year old girl, was brought to Jervis St. Hospital after an accident in the paper mill where she worked had left her right hand lacerated and torn. On duty was a respected and learned medical man who decided that in one last attempt to save the girl's life he would attempt the first ever human to human blood transfusion in Ireland. This man was Robert McDonnell. Robert McDonnell (1828-1889) McDonnell was a confident surgeon who came from a prominent medical family. His father, John McDonnell, had carried out the first amputation using ether as an inhalation anaesthetic in Ireland on New Years Day 1847 in the Richmond Hospital. So you can say Robert was definitely following in his father's first steps! Robert was born in 1828 in Dublin. He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1844 and was apprenticed to Richard Carmichael in November 1845. He graduated with B.A and M.B in 1850 and obtained his Licence from the RCSI in February 1851. Robert...

The RCSI Heritage Collections are delighted to announce the arrival of its latest collection that of the Charitable Infirmary (Jervis Street Hospital) received from the Charitable infirmary Charitable Trust (CICT). The full and colourful history of the CICT can be found on their website http://www.cict.ie/history/  Mr. Peter McLean (1934-2010)  The Charitable Infirmary Collection made its way to the   Royal College of Surgeons through the foresight of one of   our past Presidents and member of the CICT Trust   Committee Mr. Peter McLean.   Mr. McLean studied at the RCSI, became a Fellow of the   College in 1962, a Council Member in 1984 and President   from 1996 to 1998. He interned in the Charitable Infirmary   in Jervis Street, worked as a consultant in there and in  Beaumont Hospital and sat on the CICT Trust Committee.  He had a passion f...