Richard Quain - Publications

Publications

Quain’s article on fatty disease of the heart was published in 1850 but probably his major contribution was his editorship the multi-authored textbook of medicine, Quain’s Dictionary of Medicine which became the bible of all medical practitioners in the United Kingdom. It was published in 1882 after seven years' meticulous preparation by Quain. The work filled a gap in contemporary medical writing and sold over 30,000 copies; a second edition followed in 1894.

Quain was very prominent in affairs of medicine, being a censor and council member of the College of Physicians and was narrowly defeated by Sir Andrew Clark in 1888 in the election for the position of president. He became physician-extraordinary to Queen Victoria in 1890 and was created a baronet in the following year.

He was active on many committees but probably the most important of these contributions was the Royal Commission to enquire into the nature and causes and methods of prevention of the cattle plague. This commission included a number of famous people such as Dr. Henry Bence Jones (1813–1873) and Dr. Edmond Alexander Parkes (1819–1876). Quain vehemently sided with the section that wanted the extermination of the plague at any price and was opposed in this by a number of the members of the commission, including Bence Jones. Quain’s work and particularly letters he wrote to newspapers and magazines turned the tide and the recommendations to exterminate were carried out with success.

Appointed a Crown nominee in 1863, Quain became chairman of its Pharmacopoeia Committee in 1874 and took a major part in the preparation of the Additions to the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867 (1874) and of the British Pharmacopoeias of 1885 and 1898. He was chosen as a member of the Senate of London University in 1860 and was one of the organisers of the Brown Institution.

Quain was regarded universally as a fine physician, but apparently achieved his results by intuition and instinct rather than by analysis of the patient’s problems. "Utility and progress" was his favourite motto. Quain's renown as a physician was due not only to the sound commonsense that he brought to bear in diagnosis, but also to the good-humoured geniality that he showed to patients and friends,

He was famous for his epigrammatic quotes, and regarded as a fine raconteur and club member of the Garrick and Athenaeum, his broad Irish accent adding colour to the stories he told. In 1890 he was appointed physician extraordinary to Queen Victoria and in 1891 became a baronet.

• A Dictionary of Medicine. London, 1882. 3rd edition, Longmans Green, 1894. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1883.
• A Dictionary of medicine : including general pathology, general therapeutics, hygiene and the diseases of women and children ; by various writers ; ed. by Richard Quain ; assisted by Frederick Thomas Roberts and J. Mitchell Bruce ; with an American appendix by Samuel Treat Armstrong. New York : D. Appleton and Co., 1894