Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medical institutions of London. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
45/106 (page 35)
![to send such as they thought proper to Dr. Simmons to be n’ fished in his Medical Facts and Observations. i tie society three classes of members : a first class, which consisted of those who had taken a degree in physic, were members of the Surgeons’ or Apothecaries’ Company, or were established in practice in surgery, pharmacy, or chemistry. Members of the second class must have attended at a hospital one course of lectures on anatomy and the practice of physic, the third class was intended for those who had only just entered upon a course of medical studies. The members of the first two classes were required to read to the society dissertations on some subject connected with medicine in the order of their names upon the list. The society gave a medal for a dis- sertation on a stated subject; the first was gained by Everard Home in 1787 for an essay on The Properties of Pus. Dr. Routh states, on the authority of Sir Benjamin Brodie, that the meetings of the “ Lyceum ” ceased in 1809; the name of the society, however, appears in the Royal Calendar up to 1815; the same names are given as holding office from 1802 to 1815. Dr. Bradley, who is down as President during these years, died in 1813; this fact almost proves that no return was made to the editor and that the Lyceum was inserted in the pages of the Calendar long after the society had ceased to exist. In March, 1858, £119 7s. was presented by the survivors of the Lyceum to the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men; this was the result of £100 invested some years before, which had been allowed to accumulate. The [Royal] Medical and Chibubgical Society of London was founded in 1805, and was an offshoot of the Medical Society. It was mainly formed by those who had seceded from the Medical, chiefly on account of the repeated re-election of Dr. Sims as President. The first suggestion of forming the new Society came from Dr. Marcet and Dr. Yelloly; they were soon joined by Astley Cooper, who took great interest in the Medical and Chirurgical, and became its first treasurer. He was also the author of the first paper in the Transactions. In December, 1805, the first meeting of the Society was held at 2, Verulam Buildings, Gray’s Inn. Dr. Saunders, who had been chairman of the preliminary Com- mittee, was the first President, and Dr. Yelloly one of the first secretaries. The first volume of Transactions was issued in 1809, and from that date to the present time the volumes have appeared with great regularity. The Society also issues Proceedings, in the later volumes of which the discussions following on the reading of papers are fully reported. In 1810 the Society moved to 3, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and afterwards met at Nos. 30 and 57. An endeavour to obtain a charter was made in 1812, during the presidency of Sir Henry Halford; the cost of the application was raised by subscription amongst the Fellows, and so eager were they, that the whole amount (about £500) was subscribed in one morning. The opposition of the Royal College of Physicians was sufficiently strong to prevent the charter being granted. Another application in 1834 was successful, and the Society took the name of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. In that same year they took possession of the house No. 53, Berners Street, and held their first meeting there on February 3rd, 1835. This house was originally built by Sir William](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24756040_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
