Niall Ó Glacáin,[1] latinised Nellanus Glacanus[2][3] or Nellano Glacan[4] (fl. 1602–1655) was an Irish physician and plague doctor who worked to treat victims of bubonic plague outbreaks in various places throughout Europe.[2]

Ó Glacáin was a pioneer in pathological anatomy, with his work predating that of Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682–1771) by several decades.[5][2]

A 1656 engraving of a Plague doctor, by Paul Fürst.[6] Niall Ó Glacáin may have worn such a costume while attending plague victims.

Early life and education

Ó Glacáin was born in the last half of the sixteenth century.[5][2][7] Some historians give him a birth date of around 1563.[1] Giorgio Scharpes of the Faculty of Medicine, Bologna from 1634 to 1637, believed him to be about 48 during one of those years, giving a birth year of c. 1575.

He was born in Tír Chonaill (modern-day Donegal),[2][3][8][9] and probably received his early medical education from the Ó Duinnshléibhe (Dunleavy) family, a local hereditary family of physicians to the Ó Domhnaill (O'Donnell) clan of Tír Chonaill.[2][10][7] At the time, such families were the only source of medical training in Ireland. Charles Cameron suggests Ó Glacáin received his medical education abroad.[3]

Physician work

After the Irish defeat at the Battle of Kinsale, the Ó Domhnaill clan left Ireland for Spain.[11] Ó Glacáin treated Irish clan chief Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill during his illness and eventual death at the Spanish court in 1602.[10][2][5][4][7] Ó Glacáin writes in his work Tractatus de Peste:

"...I was staying with my Magnanimous Hugh O'Donnell the Great Prince of Tír Chonaill in the court of the King of Spain, with a venereal bubo. Some of the citizens of Madrid, who would not readily accept the treatment of any of the surgeons, approached me, and quickly and successfully recovered unharmed with the following poultice..." [4]

Ó Glacáin subsequently spent many years practicing medicine in Salamanca. In 1622, he moved to Valencia, residing there for two years.[5][2][7] In 1627 he moved to France during an outbreak of the plague, working as a plague doctor to treat victims at local hospitals[5][2] in towns such as Fons, Figeac, Capdenac, Cajarc, Rovergue and Floyeac.[2]

He had settled in Toulouse in time to treat victims of the outbreak of 1628.[7] MacCuinneagáin states that Ó Glacáin "gained high esteem and general consideration because of the devotion which he showed in braving the contagion to succor the sick.[12] He was appointed physician at the xenodochium pestiferorum, the plague hospital at Toulouse in 1628[2][7] and was appointed to the University there with the title Premier Professor of Medicine. He spent some time in Paris as physician to King Louis XIII[10][5][2][3][7][9] and was also a Privy Councillor there."[2][3]

By now a respected authority on plague treatment,[3] he published his most famous work, Tractatus de Peste, at Toulouse in 1629.[4][3][2] It contained his concise descriptions of the plague, its various effects on different patients such as buboes, rashes, headaches, vomiting and coma. Suggested treatments including bleeding, the use of clysters, purgatives, and fumigation.[4][2]

Title page of Tractatus De Peste

An especially interesting part of the text is a description of four post-mortems which he carried out, where he noted the occurrence of petechial haemorrhages which "covered the surface of the victims' lungs and also the swelling of the spleen."

Time in Italy

Ó Glacáin moved to Italy in the early 1630s, where his services were sought by The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bologna, which had a tradition of employing very eminent foreign doctors teaching Medicina Sopraordinaria. To this end, the city senate asked the then M.S., Giorgio Scharpes (Medicina Sopraordinaria from 1634 to 1637) write up a report on the Irishman, whose fame by now spanned all of Europe. Scharpes' reply was as follows:

"With regard to religion Mr. Glacáin is a Catholic, and there is no doubt because it would be difficult for a heretic to live in a city like Tolosa (Toulouse) which is known to be one of the most Catholic places and where they cannot bear heretics. Mr. Glacáin is about 48. He is famous because during the plague in these regions of France during the years 1627 to 1629 he was very helpful and in the year 1629 he produced a book titled Tractus de Peste ... and I invite you to read this book to understand exactly why Mr. Glacáin is valuable and why he is still teaching in the University of Tolosa ... About his teaching he is well estimated because he is a good philosopher, good in fighting against his enemies that accused him of being a magician; his book can confirm that he was not a magician ... Mr. Glacáin knows Greek very well ... talking about the other questions ... from a letter from Mr. Glacáin where he says he would really like to serve the University of Bologna, I can understand that there will not be any problem for the salary and for him to come."

In 1646, he became Professor of Medicine at the University of Bologna.[2][5][1] MacCuinneagáin gives this date as 1642, and claims Ó Glacáin held this office until his death.[12]

In 1655, during his years in Bologna, Niall Ó Glacáin wrote his Cursus Medicus (Medicine lessons),[2][10][3] which appeared in three volumes; the first dealt with physiology, the second pathology,[2] and the third – which appeared after his death – on the theory of signs. This final volume dealt with the different diagnosis by doctors, descriptions of diseases, and was overall an introduction to the modern concept of differential diagnosis. Two other Irish residents in the city, Gregory Fallon of Connacht and the Rev. Phillip Roche, S.J., wrote commendatory verses prefixing volume two.

Personal life

Niall Ó Glacáin's personal life is almost unknown,[5] but he did entertain Bishop of Ferns Nicholas French and Sir Nicholas Plunkett at his home in Bologna,[2] when the latter were on their way to Rome in 1648. In collaboration with them he wrote eulogistic poems in Latin to Innocent X, titled Regni Hiberniae ad Sanctissimi Innocenti Pont. Max. Pyramides Encomiasticae.[2]

In his later work he mentions another friend, the Franciscan catechist and grammarian, Fr. Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh. He was also an associate of Irish bishop Peter Talbot[2] and Portuguese physician Gabriel da Fonseca, personal physician to Pope Innocent X.[1]

Ó Glacáin's date of death is unconfirmed.[5][2][7] MacCuinneagáin suggests 1653[12] - other sources suggest 1665.[2] His eulogy, as written by Peter von Adrian Brocke, Professor of Eloquence at Lucca, begins:

"With healing art he arms us to repel, dire troops of agues and of fevers fell, whatever ills the patient may endure, known or unknown, unerring is his cure..." [2][3][7]

Bibliography

  • Tractatus de Peste, Seu Brevis, Facilis et Experta Methodud Curandi Pestem, University of Toulouse Press, 1629.
  • Cursus medicus, libris tredecem propositus, three volumes, University of Bologna press, 1655.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Novoa, James William Nelson. "Medicine, learning and Self Representation in seventeenth century Italy. Rodrigo and Gabriela da Fonseca" (PDF). Humanismo, Diáspora e Ciência. Universidade de Lisboa: 213–232.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Murphy, David (October 2009). "O'Glacan (Ó Glacan), Nial". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006763.v1. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cameron, Charles Alexander (1886). History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1st ed.). Dublin, Ireland. p. 6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ó Glacáin, Niall (1629). Tractatus de Peste. Toulouse, France: University of Toulouse Press. p. 130.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Simms, Samuel (July 1935). "Nial O'Glacan of Donegal". Dúchas Thír Chonaill - Donegal Heritage. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Fletcher, Robert (1898). A tragedy of the Great Plague of Milan in 1630. Baltimore, USA: The Lord Baltimore Press. pp. 16–17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Uí Chonaire, Rhóda (April 1977). "Léas ar an Leigheas (2)". Comhar. Comhar Teoranta. 36 (4): 6–10. JSTOR 23232115.
  8. ↑ O'Donoghue, David James (1908). The Geographical Distribution Of Irish Ability. M. H. Gill & Son.
  9. 1 2 Windle, Bertram Coghill Alan (1914). Dunn, Joseph; Lennox, P.J. (eds.). "IRISH MEN OF SCIENCE". The Glories of Ireland. Phoenix.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Woods, J. Oliver (September 1981). "The history of medicine in Ireland". Ulster Medical Journal. 51 (1): 35–45. PMC 2385830. PMID 6761926.
  11. ↑ Morgan, Hiram (October 2009). "O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006343.v1.
  12. 1 2 3 MacCuinneagáin, Conall (2010). "Niall O'Glacan (Nellani Glacan)". Donegal Annual: 15–21.
  • Niall O'Glacan, by David Murphy, in Dictionary of Irish Biography ... to the year 2002, ed. James McGuire and James Quinn, Cambridge, 2009.
  • Niall O'Glacan (Nellani Glacan), Conall MacCuinneagáin, Donegal Annual, pp. 15–21, 2010.
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