THE PLACE OF MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN THE PROGRESS OF MEDICINE
Authors: R. Crawfurd
Journal: BMJ (1931)

We are gathered here to-day to celebrate the centenary of the Harveian Society of London, and we are honoured by the presence of representatives of the sister society of Edinburgh, founded in 1782, and of that of£New York, founded in 1905.The occasion may be not inopportune for considering some features of the life-history of medical societies in Great Britain.THE THREE HARVEIAN SOCIETIES Human activity, in so far as it is enduringly fertile, is not the chance product of a few creative minds, but is conditioned by its antecedents and environment, and tends to express the dominant tendencies of the time.Thus the Harveian Society of Edinburgh was born of a demand that found expression in various ways in the last quarter of the eighteenth century for the democratization of medical knowledge.Phoenix-like it arose out of the ashes of an older Aesculapian Society, membership of which had been exclusive and limited to Fellows of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons.The Harveian Society opened wide its doors, not only to these Fellows, but also to medical graduates, neighbouring practitioners, and the naval and military medical services as well.The Scottish genius for conviviality seems to have asserted itself in the constitution of this society, as it kept in the forefront of its programme the cherishing of friendli- ness among members of the profession, and the degrees conferred by it included " Doctor of Mirth and Social Joy " and " Doctor of Merriment."So this society was true to Harvey's injunction as to the importance of cherishing actively the spirit of good-fellowship as an assurance of usefulness and stability.The Harveian Society of London was launched on its career of enduring prosperity at a time when educational reform was alive and active in every branch of intellectual activity.In London, in little more than a decade, University College, King's College, and the University of London came into being.Medical societies had already spread from their first metropolitan homes in Edinburgh and London to the provinces, and in 1819 a further tendency to decentralization within the growing metro- polis had declared itself in tne foundation of the Hunterian Society, for the benefit of the medical profession in the East End of London.The purpose of this Harveian Society at its birth was to do the same for the West of London, for it should be remembered that in 1831 the centre of medical activity was not, as now, in Harley Street, but in the district adjacent to the British Museum.One important function of medical societies has been to provide a medium for the conveyance of fresh knowledge from the centre to. the periphery of the profession.Scientific discoveries tend to be minted in minds con- centrated at the centre, but it is by the minds of the multitude of practitioners scattered throughout the country that the golden coins gain extensive currency.The flow of fresh knowledge has thus been mainly centrifugal, and very little in the reverse direction, for the country practitioner is more directly concerned with the art of medicine, which is individual and incommunicable, while the science of medicine is catholic and susceptible of