Irish Medical Journals

Conclusion

It is, perhaps, a fair conclusion to state that Irish medical journals flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century when Irish medicine was itself at the centre of the world stage. There were a number of remarkably able men who were actively involved in medical editing as well as notable medical discoveries. Dublin was then a very large city with well-organised hospitals. The population of the country was at a level never seen before or since. Ireland’s population was then more than half that of England and Wales. Poverty lead to an enormous demand for hospital care with unrivalled opportunities for clinical observation. Post-mortem examinations were frequent and thorough.

The Act of Union in 1800 lead to the decline of Dublin as a political and social centre but this increased the relative importance of the professions where medicine was already rising in the social hierarchy. Dublin became an important centre of medical education, because it was cheap, efficient and enterprising, offering opportunities for the best men to stay in Ireland.

History changed all this but the wheel is turning again. Over the last 20 years there has been a marked increase in the number and quality of Irish articles appearing and some increase in new journals. My personal hope is that one weekly journal with a full time medical editor will eventually emerge in Dublin.