Welcome to the Practice of Medicine in Early Modern Europe

The Edward Worth Library is a rare books collection, bequeathed to Dr Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin, by Dr Edward Worth (1676–1733), who was one of the Hospital’s earliest Trustees. This web exhibition, on the practice of medicine in early modern Europe, marks the hosting of the WONCA Europe conference in Dublin in September 2024 by the Irish College of GPs on its 40th anniversary. The exhibition was curated by the Librarian of the Edward  Worth Library, Dr Elizabethanne Boran, with contributions from Dr Fabrizio Bigotti (Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance); Professor Owen Corrigan, Fellow Emeritus, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin; Mr Michael V. Hanna; and assistance and photography by Mr Antoine Mac Gaoithín (Edward Worth Library). It is the eighteenth in a series of websites exploring the holdings of the Worth Library. For further details please contact our website: www.edwardworthlibrary.ie.

Joseph Du Chesne, Quercetanus redivivus, hoc est Ars medica dogmatico hermetica, ex scriptis Josephi Quercetani … tomis tribus digesta: quorum I. Ars medica mediatrix, II. Ars medica auxiliatrix, III. Ars medica practica. Operâ Joannis Schröderi (Frankfurt, 1648), engraved title page.

Worth was a physician in early eighteenth-century Dublin and, as might be expected, his collections are particularly strong in all medical areas. He collected a host of works by physicians across Europe but he was also interested in the writings of other practitioners, especially surgeons and apothecaries. This exhibition explores Worth’s books on diagnosis and prognosis, and what they can tell us of the many treatments for disease in early modern Europe. These included familiar Galenic treatments such as the use of herbal medicine, bleeding and purging, and the preventative use of the six non-naturals, but Worth was clearly also interested in more modern treatments, such as the use of new drugs (outlined in his wide collection of pharmacopoeias of the period), and in his tracts on inoculation. In addition, of course, when all else failed there was always surgery. Worth’s collection of medical texts reflects the many locations of early modern medical practice: in the home, in hospitals and in emerging spas, which offered minerals waters. The aim of this online exhibition is to share our collections with you and introduce you to the wonderful resources of the Edward Worth Library. We welcome your feedback on our exhibition and can be contacted on our ‘Contact Us’ page.