TRIMESTER - Rotunda Library Newsletter June 2012 | Page 2

2 Trimester Rotunda Library Newsletter Recollections of an Irish Doctor Book Review by Anne M. O’Byrne T his is a unique piece of work which charters the reminiscences of Dr Lombe Atthill, who was born in 1827 and died suddenly in 1910. It reviews a limited edition book that chronicles one doctors working life in adverse social and medical conditions in Dublin. Prior to his death, he placed the manuscript of this book in the publisher’s hands and made arrangements for issue which were completed by his widow. It was originally published in 1911. Dr Atthill, in his own narrative, vividly describes the daily life, diet and material culture of the pre-famine period in the northwest corner of Co. Fermanagh, where his father was a Church of Ireland Rector. He was the sixth son of seven boys brought up in Magheraculmoney Rectory, educated in England and at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. At the age of 16, Atthill came to Dublin to be apprenticed to Dr Maurice Collis, a surgeon at the Meath Hospital. At the age of nineteen he qualified as a doctor and his medical positions included working as a Dispensary Medical Officer at the Fleet Street Dispensary. He also worked as a physician at the Adelaide Hospital and more prestigiously as Master of the Rotunda Hospital from 1878. He was elected as president of the Royal College of Physicians and also president of the Royal Irish Academy during his career. This narrative not only chronicles the professional life of Atthill, but in doing so, gives graphic descriptions of the appalling conditions of the sick poor in Dublin, during and after the famine. Typhoid fever and typhus were rife and living conditions were without light and heating. During his life he witnessed the visit of Queen Victoria to a rainy windswept Dublin in 1849, and was familiar with the many greats of nineteen century Medicine. Atthill describes his work as “narrating incidents in the ordinary life of an ordinary man” but it is far more than this. It is a valuable insight into the social and medical conditions during the lifetime of this pleasant, professional man. This book has a valuable place in the history of medicine and maternity care in Ireland. Ballinakella Press, 2007, ISBN: 0946538484 Learning Ne ver Exhausts the Mind Database Training Days T he Library and Information Service hosted two further training events in the first few months of this year. On Friday, March 16th, Mr Maurice Clementi, of OVID, attended the breakfast meeting of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Journal Club. He delivered two, half hour OVIDSp training sessions which focused on the My Projects and the OVID Toolbar features. The event was well attended and is proving to be popular with clinicians. Our thanks to Maurice (pictured below) for his early attendance and expertise. Our CINAHL database trainer Richard Crookes, from EBSCO, provided a refresher training session for nursing and midwifery staff on Wednesday, April 18th, in the Green Room. Over a series of sessions he introduced users to changes in the CINAHL database, basic search techniques and key features. Users had an opportunity to ask our trainer relevant questions about the use of this database and its various features. Our thanks to all who took the time in busy work schedules to attend this training. We also provide One on One training sessions for all our electronic resources. Contact Anne or Geraldine for more information or to book a training session. [email protected]