Boston Society for Medical Improvement

The Boston Society for Medical Improvement was an elite medical society based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established in 1828 for the purposes of "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" and continued to hold regular meetings until at least 1917.

The Society was established February 19, 1828 by John P. Spooner. By-laws were established at a founding meeting of eleven members, and the first regular meeting was held on March 10. Within a year the Society had grown to 25 members.

Meetings were held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, originally in Spooner's home. 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. 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.

The Society's original officers were a committee of four and a secretary, who made up the "Prudential Committee", as well as a librarian and a cabinet keeper. These offices were filled once a year by vote at the first meeting in January. Members were admitted twice a year, in April and October, with only practicing physicians from Boston being eligible.

During its first year the Society's Anatomical Cabinet was established, and several members collaborated to combine the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Boston Medical Intelligencer into the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (now the New England Journal of Medicine). The Society's expenses in the first year were $7.50.

In 1830, after resolving to publish their transactions and to have a standing committee, the Society moved to a room on Washington Street, rented for an annual fee of $25. In 1833 The Medical Magazine published a piece praising the Society and encouraging the formation of similar organizations.

The Society limited its membership to Boston's medical elite. In 1835 a number ineligible physicians (mostly younger, less established members of the profession) formed a competing organization, the Boston Society for Medical Observation. By 1838, when the Society was incorporated, membership had grown to 35, with approximately 25 attending any given meeting. Around 1840 the Society relocated once again, to Tremont Row. Until 1840 the Society often held anniversary celebrations (frequently including the presentation of an original poem by member Oliver Wendell Holmes) but after that date they became increasingly rare.

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