The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was a learned society of

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s and

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

s which was founded in 1805 by 26 personalities in these fields who had left the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthrop ...

(founded 1773) because of disagreement with the autocratic style of its president, James Sims. Among its founders there were William Saunders (1743–1817), its first president; John Yelloly (1774–1842), Sir

Astley Cooper Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Baronet (23 August 176812 February 1841) was a British surgeon and anatomist, who made contributions to otology, vascular surgery, the anatomy and pathology of the mammary glands and testicles, and the pathology ...

(1768–1841), the first treasurer;

Alexander Marcet Alexander John Gaspard Marcet FRS (1 August 1770 – 19 October 1822), was a Genevan-born physician who became a British citizen in 1800. His wife Jane Marcet was a prolific author, whose series of books entitled 'Conversations' treated topic ...

(1770–1822) and

Peter Mark Roget Peter Mark Roget ( ; 18 January 1779 – 12 September 1869) was a British physician, natural theologian, lexicographer and founding secretary of The Portico Library. He is best known for publishing, in 1852, the '' Thesaurus of English Words ...

(1779–1869). Verulam Buildings RMCSL

According to its charter, the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was founded "for the purpose of conversation on professional subjects, for the reception of communications and for the formation of a library" and served "several branches of the medical profession". In 1834 the Society received a

Royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

, thus becoming the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. This society merged with several other specialist societies, from 1907 to 1909, to form the current

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...

. The 17 societies which merged with the Medical and Chirurgical Society to form the Royal Society of Medicine were: *

Pathological Society of London The Pathological Society of London was founded in 1846 for the "cultivation and promotion of Pathology by the exhibition and description of specimens, drawings, microscopic preparations, casts or models of morbid parts." Its first meeting was he ...

(1846–1907), *

Epidemiological Society of London The Epidemiological Society of London, also known as the Royal Society of Medicine's Epidemiological Society, was founded in London in 1850 with the objective of investigating the causes and conditions which influence the origin, propagation, m ...

(1850–1907), *

Odontological Society of Great Britain The Royal Dental Hospital was a dental hospital in Leicester Square, London, which operated from 1858 until 1985. In 1859, it opened the London School of Dental Surgery, later renamed to the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surge ...

(1856–1907), *

Obstetrical Society of London The Obstetrical Society of London existed from 1858 to 1907. History The Society was set up in 1858, the successor to an Obstetric Society dating from 1825, and in the aftermath of the Medical Act 1858. The founding group included James Hobson Ave ...

(1858–1907), *

Clinical Society of London The Clinical Society of London was founded in London in 1868 and merged in 1907 with the Royal Society of Medicine. The founding of the Clinical Society was mainly due to Drs. Edward Headlam Greenhow and John Burdon Sanderson who convened a meeting ...

(1867–1907), * Dermatological Society of London (1882–1907), * British Gynaecological Society (1884–1907), * Neurological Society of London (1886–1907), * British Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Association (1888–1907), * Laryngological Society of London (1893–1907) * Society of Anaesthetists (1893–1908), * Dermatological Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1894–1907) * British Balneological and Climatology Society (1895–1909), * Otological Society of the United Kingdom (1899–1907), * Society for the Study of Diseases in Children (1900–1908), * British Electrotherapy Society (1901–1907), and * Therapeutical Society (1902–1907). Honorary Fellows of the society included

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

and

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

. Other presidents of note were the "three great from

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

", Richard Bright (1837);

Thomas Addison Thomas J Addison (April 179329 June 1860) was an English physician, chef, and scientist. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in London. Among other pathologies, he discovered Addison's disease (a degenerati ...

(1849) and Sir

James Paget Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet FRS HFRSE (11 January 1814 – 30 December 1899) (, rhymes with "gadget") was an English surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for naming Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virc ...

(1875), as well as

Joseph Hodgson Joseph Hodgson (1788–1869) was a British physician and a well-known Religious Society of Friends, Quaker. He was born in Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith, Cumberland, the son of a Birmingham merchant and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, ...

(1851) and

Frederick William Pavy Frederick William Pavy (29 May 1829 – 19 September 1911) was a British physician and physiologist and the discoverer of Pavy disease, a cyclic or recurrent physiologic albuminuria. Life Pavy was born in Wroughton and educated at Merc ...

(1900).

Presidents

References

External links

History of the Royal Society of Medicine

The Medical Society of London
{{authority control 1805 establishments in England Medical associations based in the United Kingdom