David MacBride

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

MacBride, David, M.D., one of the most eminent Dublin physicians of his day, was born at Ballymoney, County of Antrim, 26th April 1726. He served for many years as surgeon in the navy, and made those observations which resulted in his valuable treatise on scurvy, published in 1767. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he left the service, and studied anatomy under Hunter, and midwifery under Smellie. He settled at Ballymoney in 1749, and removed to Dublin in 1751, where his bashfulness kept him in the background for many years. In 1764 he published his Experimental Essays on the Fermentation of Alimentary Mixtures, a work which, translated almost immediately into French and German, gained for him a European reputation. The value of his improvements in the art of tanning were recognized by the presentation of medals from more than one learned society. The results of his medical experience were given to the world in 1772 in his valuable Methodical Introduction to Medicine, afterwards translated into Latin, German, French, and Dutch. Dr. MacBride died from the effects of a neglected cold, at his house in Cavendish-row, Dublin, 28th December 1778, aged 52. His portrait is given in the interesting memoir from which this notice is compiled.

Sources

115. Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science (3). Dublin, 1846-'77.

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