The Worth Library in Dr Steevens’ Hospital is a treasure trove of medical texts stretching back to the 15th century
EVER WONDERED if there was an antidote if you came down with a bad case of bubonic plague? Or how TB and venereal disease were treated before antibiotics and streptomycin came along?
The answers lie in a perfectly preserved 300-year-old library hidden away in the unlikely location of the HSE headquarters in Dr Steevens’ Hospital in Dublin.
Stepping into the Worth Library, with its original oak-stained, glass-fronted bookcases and a portrait of its owner, Edward Worth, peering down magisterially on the specially designed east-facing room, is not just to step back in time, but to inhabit the mind of a passionate 17th-century bibliophile.
Edward Worth (1678-1733) was a Dublin physician and avid book collector. By the time of his death he had amassed a library of 4,500 volumes covering a wide array of topics – medical and science texts, predominantly, but also a selection of the classics, as well as tomes on theology, history and astronomy.
Son of John Worth, the Dean of St Patrick’s, Edward studied at Oxford, Leiden and Utrecht, returning to Dublin in 1702 where he set up a medical practice in Werburgh Street. Little is known of his life – he never married and had no children. In fact, the library that he bequeathed to Dr Steevens’ probably tells us more about the man than his sparse biography.
Worth was a connoisseur collector, travelling to England, France and Holland in search of texts, and having many of them bound by Dublin bookbinders. The exquisite bindings in calf, goatskin and parchment are in near mint condition. “I’ve come across volumes where the pages haven’t even been cut,” says the Worth’s head librarian, Dr Elizabethanne Boran.
The pristine state of the library’s holdings is partly due to the strict stipulations of Worth’s will. He decreed that only three people – the hospital’s chief surgeon, physician and the chaplain – would have access to his trophy volumes. Luckily for prospective scholars, the rules of admission are more relaxed these days.
The earliest book in the Worth collection is from the personal library of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s famed finance minister, who likened the art of taxation to the plucking of a goose “so as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest amount of hissing”. Conservandum Sanitatas was printed in Rome in 1475 and is a handbook on food nutrition.
Another rare volume is a copy of the Magna Cartathat once belonged to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, dating to 1557.
If this makes the Worth Library sound like a fusty museum piece, that would be to ignore its lively 21st-century manifestation on the web. The library’s website features exhibitions on-line drawn from the books in Worth’s collection.
Tomorrow, the latest online exhibition will be launched, showcasing the treatment of infectious diseases through the ages. “We want to bring the collection to everyone and the web is one way of doing that,” explains Boran.
As four-fifths of the library collection are in Latin and Greek, much of the material has to be translated before going online. But the web presence also serves as a conservation tool, allowing the distant reader to savour the visual delights of the books without compromising the volumes by handling.
Boran is evangelical about the value of the Worth to contemporary researchers. “On the infectious diseases, for example, we can see what medics of the time knew as well as what they didn’t know,” she says.
The library hosts seminars and conferences and an annual lecture series. In 2011, a research fellowship will be offered. “We want to develop links with universities both in Ireland and internationally, and to encourage researchers to make use of the treasure trove of material we have here.”
But the relevance of the Worth Library is not confined to medical research. Scholars interested in typography and the history of the book will find pristine examples of deluxe bindings, leather tooling and gilt work.
Although the library is not open to the public, a tour can be arranged by appointment on edwardworthlibrary.ie. Or you could avail of an open day this Friday (10.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm) when the Worth will welcome walk-in visitors.
The Worth Library Lecture Series 2011 is as follows:
February 15th: Smallpox in 18th-century Britain – Dr Deborah Brunton
March 15th: Plague in 15th-century Milan – Prof Ann Carmichael
April 5th: Syphilis in early modern Germany – Dr Claudia Stein
April 19th: Tuberculosis in 19th- and 20th-century Ireland – Prof Greta Jones
May 17th: The Spanish Flu Epidemic in Ireland – Ms Ida Milne
HEAL THYSELF: SOME TREATMENTS FROM TEXTS IN THE WORTH LIBRARY
Advice on the treatment of infectious diseases at the Worth Library includes:
Syphilis: Neapolitan ointment
"Take of Quick-silver squeezd through Leather a pound: of Venice Turpentine three Drams; rub them together for some Hours in a Brass Mortar, till the Quick-silver is quite killd; mix by little at a time two Pound of Hogs-lard with it, and make an Ointment. With this anoint the whole body from the soles of the Feet to the Hair of the Head . . ." – Calmette, Riverius reformatus,London, 1706
The aim of the treatment was to induce salivation and thus expel the disease. But the side effects were grim: “The Head akes, the Face looks red, the Throat grows rough. Ulcers break out in the Mouth . . . the Palate and Tongue burn, in which, if they are not often wash’d with warm Milk, they feel very acute Pains, and thus the Fluxing continues without intermission with a nauseous Stink . . . ”
Tuberculosis: Decoction of snails
Christopher Bennet, a 16th-century physician, credited with designing one of the earliest inhalers, and who died himself of consumption aged 38, offered this specific remedy for the treatment of tuberculosis: "Take wood-snails of a moderate size, No xxx, sound fragrant Apples with their Rings cut into slices, No v, Prunes No ix, let them boil for an Hour in a sufficient Quantity of spring-water, and after the strained Liquor hath been clarified with the White of an Egg, it will be very grateful, and must be kept for Use . . . " – Christopher Bennet, Tabidroium theatrum(Leiden, 1714)
Plague: The London Plague
Drink
This was hailed as "that Great Secret" by which vast numbers of people recovered from the epidemic in 1665. "Take 2 Quarts of Canary (if you cannot get Sack, take Claret, or any other wine: Poor People may make it of Good Beer) put into it of Rue and Sage of each, one good handful. Boil these together in Pipkin close covered till about a Pint is boiled away, then strain it off, and set it over the Fire again, and put into it one Dram of Saffron, One Dram of Long Pepper, Half and Ounce of Ginger, and two good large Nutmegs, all well beaten together. Then let it boil a quarter of an Hour, take it off the Fire, and dissolve in it Mitridate and Venice Treacle of each a full Ounce: and keep it close stopt for Use. – Paul Barbette, Thesaurus chirurgioe; the chirurgical anatomical vvorks(sic), London, 1676
