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1754
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In an article (by Helen Brock) on
Clephane, John (1701/2-1758), physician in the electronic
version of the
Dictionary of National Biography, we read:
"He was an original member of the Society of London Physicians, founded in
1754 . . . ."
Helen Brock, 'Clephane, John (1701/2-1758)', Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5611, accessed 16 May 2005]
In an article (by Margaret DeLacy) on
Fothergill, John (1712-1780), physician and naturalist in the
electronic version of the
Dictionary of National Biography, we read:
"Among Fothergill's Edinburgh friends was the surgeon William Hunter, who
settled in London about 1746; they collaborated on many efforts, including
the formation of a society of physicians modelled on the Edinburgh Medical
Society. Between 1757 and 1784 this group, which never adopted an official
name, published six volumes of transactions under the title Medical
Observations and Inquiries."
Margaret DeLacy, 'Fothergill, John (1712-1780)', Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9979, accessed 16 May 2005]
In an article (by Helen Brock) on
Hunter, William (1718-1783), physician, anatomist, and man-midwife
in the electronic version of the
Dictionary of National Biography, we read:
"In 1754 Hunter became a member of the Society of London Physicians, which
in 1757 started publishing Medical Observations and Inquiries, in which he
was to publish some of his important cases and, on behalf of former
pupils, forty-four accounts of interesting cases they had sent him."
Helen Brock, 'Hunter, William (1718-1783)', Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14234, accessed 16 May 2005]
From the above three articles, we conclude that the Society was founded in
1754 on the model of a Society identified as the
Edinburgh Medical Society
(the student society whose name later became
Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh).
The two articles by Helen Brock refer to the Society as the
Society of London Physicians,
whilst the article by Margaret DeLacy indicate that the Society
never adopted an official name.
Its journal indicates that it is the work of
a Society of Physicians in London, the indefinite article a
suggesting that the latter was indeed not a formal name.
The Society appears to have survived until at least 1793, as shown by the
following title in the
COPAC cat.:
List of the Society of Physicians, 1793.
The second edition of v.6 of its journal was issued in 1812;
it is not clear whether this means that the Society was still active in
1812, or whether the publication of the 2nd edition of v.6 was undertaken
by a publisher acting alone.
It is interesting to note that
a record in the Bibliot. Nat. France cat.
indicates that the French translation of the Society's journal
continues in part
Essais et Observations de Médecine de la
Société d'Édimbourg
[see
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh].
This seems to suggest some sort of connection between the two Societies.
Furthermore,
According to the entry (by George Thomas Bettany)
for Hunter, William (1718-1783) in the
DNB (1921-1922), v.10, pp.302-305,
"On 30 Sept. 1756 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of
Physicians of London, and soon afterwards was elected a member of the
Society of Physicians, the parent of the Medical Society."
This would appear to suggest that the
Society of Physicians in London, or some members thereof, was
responsible for the founding of the
Medical Society of London in 1773.
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