Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barker, Francis

by no contributor recorded

BARKER, FRANCIS (d. 1859?), Irish physician, graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1793, and afterwards studied medicine at Edinburgh. He there became intimate with Sir Walter Scott. On taking a medical degree at Edinburgh he composed a thesis, ‘De invento Galvani,’ suggesting the identity of the nervous fluid and dynamical electricity. After residing in Waterford for five years, where he opened the first fever hospital in Ireland, he settled in Dublin; in 1808 was elected professor of chemistry there, and took the M.B. and M.D. degrees in 1810. He started the first Irish medical journal in conjunction with Dr. Todd. In 1804 he was elected senior physician to the Cork Street Hospital, and from 1820 to 1852 was secretary to the Irish board of health. He published many reports on fevers, and in 1821, in conjunction with Dr. Cheyne, a work on ‘Epidemic Fevers in Ireland.’ In 1826 he edited the Dublin Pharmacopœia. He died about 1859.

[Dr. Waller in Imperial Biog. Dict.; Cat. of Dublin Graduates, 1591–1868.]