Boston Society for Medical Improvement

The Boston Society for Medical Improvement was an elite society of Boston physicians, established in 1828 for "the cultivation of confidence and good feeling between members of the profession; the eliciting and imparting of information upon the different branches of medical science; and the establishment of a Museum and Library of Pathological Anatomy".

[3] Usually a member's reading of a paper was followed by discussion of recent cases of either special interest or on which the attending physician wished the opinion of his colleagues.

[6] There were frequent presentations of remarkable tissues and organs obtained during post-mortems, or unusual specimens found in nature, those of particular interest being added to the "Cabinet" of the Society.

[9] In 1830, after resolving to publish their transactions and to have a standing committee,[9] the Society moved to a room on Washington Street, rented for an annual fee of $25.

[9] In 1833 The Medical Magazine published a piece praising the Society and encouraging the formation of similar organizations.

In 1835 a number ineligible physicians (mostly younger, less established members of the profession) formed a competing organization, the Boston Society for Medical Observation.

[5] Until 1840 the Society often held anniversary celebrations[10][15] (frequently including the presentation of an original poem by member Oliver Wendell Holmes[5][15][16]) but after that date they became increasingly rare.

[18][19][20][21] On November 10, 1849, Henry Jacob Bigelow presented Phineas Gage to the Society, between the cases of a stalagmite "remarkable for its singular resemblance to a petrified penis" and a child cured of a swollen ankle by a Dr.

[25] In 1878 the Society moved to a building on Boylston Street, the former home of Samuel Gridley Howe, after it was purchased by the Boston Medical Library Association.

[9] It included a number of specimens from the War of 1812,[26] which had been acquired by the Society from Dr. S. D. Townsend and Charles H. Stedman of the Chelsea Naval Hospital.

[2][37] It also included a number of Chinese paintings of medical cases donated by Robert William Hooper.