Jones Quain - Biography

Biography

Quain, born in November 1796, was eldest son of Richard Quain of Ratheahy, co. Cork, by his first wife, a Miss Jones. His grandfather was David Quain of Carrigoon, co. Cork. He received the name of Jones from his mother's family. Richard Quain (1800–1887) was his full brother, and Sir John Richard Quain his half-brother. Sir Richard Quain, bart., F.R.S., is his first cousin. He commenced his education in Adair's school at Fermoy. He subsequently entered Trinity College, Dublin, where, in 1814, he obtained a scholarship, then the highest classical distinction. He graduated in arts, and in 1820 he took the degree of bachelor of medicine, though he did not proceed M.D. until 1833. At the close of his college career he visited the continental schools and spent some time in Paris, translating and editing Martinet's Manual of Pathology.

He came to London in 1825 and joined, as one of its anatomical teachers, the school of medicine founded by Mr. Tyrell in Aldersgate Street. The other teacher of anatomy was (Sir) William Lawrence. While engaged here he prepared and published that work on the Elements of Anatomy which has become the standard text-book on the subject in all English-speaking countries. An attack of hæmoptysis occurring while he suffered from a dissection wound compelled him to take a rest for two years.

He accepted in 1831 the office of professor of general anatomy at University College, then vacant by the resignation of Granville Sharp Pattison; Richard Quain, his brother, acted as senior demonstrator and lecturer on descriptive anatomy, while Erasmus Wilson was his prosecutor. He was also invited to lecture upon physiology. He resigned his post at University College in 1835, and in the same year he was appointed a member of the senate of the university of London. He lived in retirement during the last twenty years of his life, and chiefly in Paris, devoting himself to literary and scientific pursuits. He died, unmarried, on 31 Jan. 1865, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. Quain was an elegant and accomplished scholar, and he was deeply interested in literature as well as science.