Dermod O'Meara (; fl. 1610–46) was an Irish physician and poet, author of the first medical work printed in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1619. He was the father of Edmund O'Meara.

Biography

He was a son of Domhnaill O'Meara, lord of the

Ó Meadhra Ó Meadhra is a Gaelic-Irish surname. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Mearas were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland b ...

lineage and foster-father to Thomas Butler. His family were hereditary physicians and poets to the Earls of Ormond. O'Meara's first published work—also the first book of Latin verse published in Ireland—was ''Ormonius'', published in 1614. It is a praise poem in the epic style about the life of Thomas Butler. In it, O'Meara describes himself as one of the

vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovate (, ), are used as technical terms for ancient Celtic bards, prophets and philosophers. The terms correspond to a Proto-Celtic word which can be reconstructed as *''wātis''.Bernhard Maier, ''Dicti ...

, and claims that Thomas was suckled as a baby by

Áine Áine () is an Irish goddess of summer, wealth, and sovereignty. She is associated with midsummer and the sun,MacKillop, James (1998) ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'' Oxford: Oxford University Press pp.10, 16, 128 and is sometimes represent ...

, an Irish goddess. Subsequently, O'Meara studied medicine at, and graduated from,

Reims University The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (; URCA), also known simply as the University of Reims, is a public university based in Reims, France. In addition to the main campus in Reims, the university has several campuses located throughout t ...

. He returned To Ireland and wrote ''De Moribus: Pathologia Hereditaria Generalis'', a text on hereditary diseases. In It, he claims that some diseases as well as other traits are inherited, that there are two sets of hereditary information, one from the mother and one from the father, and that weak traits may be masked by strong traits. In later life, O'Meara and his family broke with the house of Ormond during the

Confederation of Kilkenny Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1652, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and military ...

, in which they favored a complete break with England. Dermod was reported to have gone to the court of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. He was indicted in Ireland for high treason, but apparently never apprehended.

References

* Irish poets Irish non-fiction writers 17th-century Irish medical doctors Medical doctors from County Tipperary {{Ireland-med-bio-stub