Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-25
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

the middle ,s states which st c1 IN rh 5lon
the heels Of this. and three delegates
were elected to the first meeting OF the
American Medical Association In 1S47.
The first charter of the society provided
librarian as one Of the officers. and
the growth and maintenance Of library
through donation and purchase. In
1894. however. there was but one
one hundred and fifty books and PAM
phlets was the number of which the So
ciety could boast. In 1902 portion OF
| the library. which had grown during the
| intervening years, was donated to the
mainder to the Public Library.
Since its organization scores upon scores
Of papers have been read before the or
ganization. The minutes Of the society
up to 1898 were either lost or destroyed
by fire, and consequently the list of es-
says read during that time is lost. And
for many years after that time, too.
there is no record of the titles OF the es-
essay is one read by DIR. D. r Hagner
in 1854 on "Vaccination.' which was re-
ferred to committee and ordered
printed. Historians OF the society believe
taken in the reading and discussion of
papers. After that time. however, inter-
est increased. and q committee OF even
ing arrangements was appointed. whose
duty it was to propose subjects for dis
cussion.
The Washington Medical Annals is the
official organ of the society. This. q hi
monthly publication. is the result Of
many years work on the part OF the so
ciety to secure some kind of an organ
wherein the papers read before the or
ganization. and its transactions might be
printed
In 1872 an application was addressed to
the president of the Medical Society, ask
ing for license. 1t was refused. on the
ground that the charter prohibited it. 1t
was because the request came from
woman, DIR. Mary D. Sparkman. In 1874
the same thing occurred, this time when
DR. Mary A. Parsons asked for a license.
This being serious state of affairs, an
effort was made 70 have the charter read
persons" instead OF gentlemen" Con-
gress was appealed to. and IN 1878 the
year both DR.. Sparkman and DR.. Parsons
renewed their applications. and, Of course,
received their licenses
There was considerable opposition, how
ever, when the first application for men,
bership was made by woman. DR..
Mary A. Parsons first applied In 1876,
and failed OF election. She applied again,
and again failed, in 1873. Once more she
failed. Then, in 1888, she applied and
was elected.
As important questions of more or
less medical nature have either arisen in
the District OF become ma
Sanitary tional. the Medical So
ciety has takep an act
11UD1ens. i've part in their progress.
The fight against tuberculosis has &een
carried on by this society vigorously, and
a bill for the legal supervision of tuber-
culosis in the District adopted by the So
ciety was referred to special committee.
with the instructions that steps were to
be taken to secure its enactment by Con-
gress. AS active a fight, too, has been
waged in behalf Of pure milk, while the
society also was foremost In advocating
an examination of the eyes OF all school
children. The pure food and drugs act
found the society a willing aid, and
committee was appointed to urge the pas
sage of the bill through the Senate. fol-
lowing it's passage In the House. When,
in 1899, the committee on public health
children In the public schools here the
society appointed an auxiliary committee
consisting of Seventy-six members to as
sist in the investigation. In 1901, follow
ing reading of a paper by Dr. u. >:
Lamb on '.rhe Medical Inspection of
up by the society and copies sent to the
Commissioners, board Of education and
Congress. An appropriation for the In
spection was made In 1903
From the beginning two restrictions
were placed upon the Medical Society by
it's charter. These were the conditions
that the price of fees could not be regu-
lated by the society, nor physicians dis
ciplined outside the meeting rooms. This
state of affairs was the cause Of the or
ganization. in 1888, of what was known
as the Medical Association of the Dis
trict It's object was to provide code
of ethics and fee scale. Since then the
two societies have grown. and had to q
certain extent a similar membership. as in
the majority Of cases those physicians
belonging to one society were also men,
bers of the other. In 1877 motion was
made at one of the meetings of the Med
zeal Society favOring the uniting of the
two organizations, and asking Congress
for q new charter. Several questions
were raised. however, the motion laid on
the table and no action taken. Last
year. however. committee was ap-
pointed by the Medical Society to confer
with q similar committee appointed by
the Medical Association on the question
of the amalgamation of the two bodies.
After several months, during which time
the matter was thoroughly discussed. it
ly. the present organization, the Medical
Society Of the District of Columbia, is
the amaIgamation Of the two medical
organizations. with the charter of the
Medical Society and the additional privi-
leges belonging to the one-time Medical
Association.
4 4
Among the many questions which the
Medical Society has considered is that of
erecting a medical hall which
Binding should contain necessary meet
D. ing and social rooms. and. es-
11OJeos' pecially. library. AS far
back as 1855 such a building was con-
templated, at least, by DR.. M. Toner.
who, in an address. spoke Of the need Of
a medical library and museum. He pro-
posed to raise $4,000 for the purpose, and
a committee was formed to consider the
matter Nothing definite was done. how