| Description | "Entering the army as Assistant-Surgeon, he saw active service during the Insurrection of 1798. The same year he was elected one of the surgeons of the Meath Hospital, a post he occupied until his death. For a paper in the Annals of Philosophy, on muscles in the eyes of birds, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. About the same period, he was appointed Surgeon was General to the Forces, and in 1839 made a baronet. Sir Philip rose to the highest walks of the medical profession. His fame was almost European, and he enjoyed an immense practice. The brilliancy of his conversational powers was remarkable, and the amenity of his manners made his company universally desired. His favourite country residence was a lodge and small demesne on the margin of Lough Bray, County of Wicklow, presented to him, it is said, for successful attendance on a member of the Powerscourt family. His activity may be judged from a boast once made by him in advanced life, that he had swum across Lough Bray, ridden into town, and amputated a limb before breakfast." ('A compendium of Irish biography', 1878) |
|---|
