Richard Mead, English Physician and Epidemiologist
Richard Mead (August 11, 1673 - February 16, 1754) was an English physician. His Mechanical Account of Poisons appeared in 1702, and, in 1703, he was admitted to the Royal Society. He attended Queen Anne on her deathbed, and in 1727 was appointed physician to George II. While in the service of the king, Mead got involved in the creation of a new charity, the Foundling Hospital, both as a founding governor and as an advisor on all things medical. the Foundling was equipped with both a sick room and a pharmacy. He is even supposed to have influenced the architect, Theodore Jacobsen, into incorporating a large courtyard to promote the children exercising. In 1720, he published, A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it. It was of major historic importance in the understanding of transmissible diseases. In 1755 Mead published, Medica Sacra; Or, A commentary on the most remarkable diseases, mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Mead understood those afflicted by demons in the New Testament to refer simply to those suffering from a variety of illnesses. He died in his home in 1754. He was 80 years old
