Life
1654-1690 [or Molines]; b. Ballycoulter, Co. Down; ed. TCD, MB & MD; RCPI, 1684; paper to Dub. Phil. Soc. on human and comparative anatomy; vascularity of lens of the eye, discovered by dissecting elephant etc.; d. Barbados, of drink; left Dublin in disgrace, 1686, travelling to West Indies with Lord Inchiquin; Anatomical Account of the Elephant Accidentally Burned to Death in Dublin on 17th June 1661, Together with a Relation of New Anatomical Observations on the Eyes of Animals (Dublin 1682), a work regarded as a standard of accuracy by zoologists. FRS 1683. ODNB DIW
Commentary
Davis Coakley, Irish Masters of Medicine (Town House ?1993), writes of Allen Mullen with bio-dates 1653-1690; calls him a friend of William Molyneux and Robert Boyle, with whom he founded the Dublin Philosophical Society along Baconian lines; Molyneux’s rules are like a extract from Novum Organum and his economic plan for Ireland was as a range for sheep and beef supplying England. Mullen dissected an elephant by candlelight with the assistance of butchers.
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