New Accession: Casebook of Dr Campbell Fair
The Heritage
Centre was delighted to receive a new addition to our collections last month,
when the family of Dr Campbell Fair donated his casebook and certificate to the
Heritage Centre.
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| Title page of Campbell Fair's Casebook (ACC/2016/1) |
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| Dr Campbell Fair |
Campbell
Fair became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, in 1866, and
the same year received his Licentiate from the King and Queen’s College of
Physicians of Ireland (as RCPI was called at the time).
The
1868 Medical Directory shows that Campbell Fair studied to become a doctor at
the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and in Trinity College, as well as studying
at the Rotunda Hospital, where he was awarded a Licentiate in Midwifery.
It is from
his time as a student in Dublin that the Casebook dates, it records “Fever Cases
in the Meath Hospital of Spring and Summer of 1862,” and “Reports of Cases in
the Cork St. Fever Hospital from March 1863”. The first report book has a list
of 15 cases, complete with descriptions of the different types of fever.
The casebook provides interesting
details of all the symptoms, and treatment, with day by day details of the
patients and how they responded to treatment.
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| Index to cases recorded by Campbell Fair in the Meath Hospital |
Following
qualification Dr Campbell Fair moved to Cong in Mayo, where he worked as the
Medical Officer for the Cong District Dispensary. His career was a short one as
he died in 1868, only two years after qualification.
This
donation is a welcome addition to the Heritage Centre Collections, providing a
snapshot into the medical education of a doctor in the 1860s. RCPI is very
grateful to the family of Dr Campbell Fair for presenting these items to our Heritage
Centre.
If you would
like to view the casebook or would like to find out more about donating items
to the Heritage Centre Collections, please contact us at heritagecentre@rcpi.ie