Paper short abstract:

This paper will discuss the importance of understanding narrative techniques and style in the presentation of medical criticism, focusing on a report compiled by an Irish physician, Daniel O'Sullivan (1760- c. 1797), on drug trials held in the Hospital de San Andrés, Mexico City in the 1790s.

Paper long abstract:

This paper shall focus on a report compiled, at the request of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Madrid, by an Irish physician, Daniel O'Sullivan (1760- c. 1797), into trials held in the Hospital de San Andrés, Mexico City, in the early 1790s to judge the efficacy of a new, vegetable-based, anti-venereal cure. The document opens the doors to a hidden and murkier world than is made evident in any 'official' account that has formed a basis for our understanding of these events to date. I will discuss how the broader context of O'Sullivan's desire to participate in the Republic of Letters and the use of language employed in the creation of the work allow for a reading of the text focusing on narrative form. This enables us to elucidate the nuances and strategies that employed in the creation and presentation of a critical narrative and the role of the author. I will also highlight how his understanding of the function of 'critical history' and the 'historian' as eye witness, or autoptēs, is tied to early rhetorical concepts as well as his medical and theological training. This analysis will underline that any future discussion of the trials must take into account the details related by the Irishman, notwithstanding the particularly poor light he sheds on hospital practice in this period.