David Barry FRS (12 March 1780 – 4 November 1835) was an Irish physician and physiologist.

Life

Barry was born in

county Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

, Ireland. He completed his medical education at home, and entered the army as an Assistant-Surgeon in 1806; present as surgeon, 58th foot, at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, so ...

; and afterwards held several Peninsular appointments.

Studies and career

In 1822–26, he studied physiology and medicine at Paris, and there read several original papers before the Academy of Sciences and the

Académie Nationale de Médecine Situated at 16 Rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the Académie nationale de médecine (National Academy of Medicine) was created in 1820 by King Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the instituti ...

on the influence of atmospheric pressure on various functions of the body. The experiments on which these were based were repeated before Cuvier, Duméril, Laennec, Cruvelhier, and other eminent men of science, and much commended. These researches were published in London in 1826 under the title given below, and brought Barry into much repute. In 1828–29, he acted as English member with a commission of French doctors which visited Gibraltar to report on the causes of an epidemic of yellow fever there in 1828. In 1831, he was appointed on a commission to report on the cholera, and visited Russia, being knighted on his return. Among other commissions on which he acted was one on the medical charities of Ireland. Having distinguished himself in the Peninsular War, he settled at Oporto as surgeon to the Portuguese forces. There he married Miss Whately, sister of the future Archbishop. Returning to England in 1820, he perfected himself by further study. In 1826, he published his researches relative to the absorption of poison, and the means of counteracting it by the application of cupping-glasses. He was employed by Government in several medical inquiries, both at home and abroad, and was one of the commissioners in the investigations that led to the Factory Acts. In 1828–29, he acted as English member with Nicolas Chervin, Pierre Louis, and

Armand Trousseau Armand Trousseau (14 October 1801 – 23 June 1867) was a French internist. His contributions to medicine include Trousseau sign of malignancy, Trousseau sign of latent tetany, Trousseau–Lallemand bodies (an archaic synonym for Bence Jones ...

(a commission of French doctors) which visited

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

to report on the causes of an epidemic of yellow fever there in 1828.C. S. Breathnach, ‘Barry, Sir David (1780–1835)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 11 June 2013
/ref> In 1831, he was appointed on a commission to report on the cholera, and visited Russia, being knighted on his return. Among other commissions on which he acted were medical charities of Ireland.

Deaths

He died suddenly at the age of 55 on 4 November 1835, in London, of an aneurysm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, David 1780 births 1835 deaths Medical doctors from County Roscommon Fellows of the Royal Society Irish knights 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish medical doctors Irish surgeons Irish physiologists Knights Bachelor Military personnel from County Roscommon