SKETCH OF SIR RICHARD QUAIN. 835 



and honorable, its mission is noble and broad, its future is full of 

 " promise and potency." But, to realize these aright, it is needful 

 that the association shall clearly recognize its obligation as an educat- 

 ing agency and keep in touch with the public, and that the scientists 

 of the country shall sustain it in its work and contribute to it their 

 best endeavors. 



SKETCH OF SIR RICHARD QUAIK 



BESIDES being an extraordinarily popular and successful prac- 

 ticing physician. Sir Richard Quain contributed materially by 

 his researches to the advancement of medical science, served the 

 public in many responsible and highly useful positions, and earned 

 a world-wide recognition by his work on the " Rinderpest " Com- 

 mission. 



Richard Quain was born at Mallow, on the Blackwatcr, Ire- 

 land, October 30, 1816, and died in London, March 13, 1898. He 

 came of a family which contributed several eminent men to public 

 life — two of his cousins, Jones Quain and Richard Quain, having 

 distinguished themselves in anatomy and surgery, and a third, John 

 Richard Quain, as a lawyer and a judge in the Court of Queen's 

 Bench. His mother also belonged to an honorable family, that of 

 the Burkes of Mallow, and was a great-grandniecc of Bishop Burnet, 

 who conducted the services at the coronation of William and Mary. 

 Young Quain is said to have been precocious in his childhood, to 

 have become thoroughly grounded in English and the classics, and 

 to have distinguished himself at the examinations. When fifteen 

 years old he was apprenticed for five years to an apothecary in 

 Limerick, and gained considerable experience and made sagacious 

 observations even at that age; and he is said to have resolutely 

 fought the cholera when it raged in Limerick. In 1837 he pro- 

 ceeded to London and entered University College, where his cousins 

 Richard and Jones held professorial chairs; was graduated thence 

 M. B., in 1840; gained the scholarship and gold medal, and took 

 honors in surgery and midwifery. He was appointed at that time 

 house surgeon, and one year later house physician, or " resident 

 medical officer," at University College Hospital. This institution 

 was, during the five years he held that position, much thronged with 

 " casualty " patients, the work on the extension of the London and 

 Northwestern Railway bringing a large accession of laboring popula- 

 tion within its bailiwick. AVith the degree of M. D., in 1842, he 

 received a gold medal and a certificate of special proficiency. The 

 next year he was elected a fellow of University College. In 184G 



