Scottish Society of the History of Medicine

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Scottish Society of the History of Medicine

The aim of the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine is to further the general history of medicine, with particular attention to Scottish Medicine.

It was founded in 1948 & is a registered charity. The Scottish Society of the History of Medicine aims to promote, encourage and support the study of the history of medicine, with a particular interest in Scottish Medicine. It was founded in 1948 and the medical historian Dr Douglas Guthrie was its first President. The Society is registered as a charity in Scotland (SC008621). It is open to anyone with an interest in Scottish medical history regardless of profession. Three ordinary meetings are held each year. These take place on Saturdays with the autumn meeting in Edinburgh, the spring meeting in Glasgow and the summer meeting at a chosen venue elsewhere in Scotland. In addition an annual lecture and dinner in honour of Dr Haldane Tait, a former President and long-serving Secretary to the Society, is held in the summer, usually in Edinburgh. Meetings are social as well as academic events starting with lunch followed by two or more papers on various aspects of medical history. Guests are very welcome. The Society’s published Proceedings are distributed free to members, and are requested by kindred societies and archives throughout the world. The Society is affiliated to the British Society of the History of Medicine which enables its members to attend and present papers at British Society meetings. The International Society of the History Of Medicine holds regular international meetings and congresses and publishes a journal, Vesalius, twice yearly. The Edinburgh History of Medicine Group hold monthly meetings between October and March in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The History of Dentistry Research Group is based at Glasgow University

21/06/2025

Summer meeting today! Well attended, well organised, well catered, good talks.

10/06/2025

New website! https://www.sshm.co.uk

06/06/2025

Our Summer Meeting will take place on the afternoon of Saturday 21st June in the Stirling Court Hotel, which is on the University of Stirling campus near Bridge of Allan. Lunch from 1pm will be followed by presentations:

2.00pm 'Norman Dott (1897–1973) and medical illustration: the importance of art to neurosurgery' (Mr Andreas Demetriades, Edinburgh)
2.35pm 'Royal Firsts: pioneering achievements in Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Prof Gordon Lowe, Glasgow)
3.10pm Tea and coffee
3.30pm 'How dangerous is radiation? A history of radiological protection in medicine' (Dr Colin Martin, Glasgow)
4.05pm 'The Strange Case of .. Eugène Chantrelle and Mr Hyde' (Dr John Clark and Mr Angus Crawford, Glasgow)

The cost for the meeting is £45 per head, to include lunch, teas and coffees.

12/04/2025

The Society’s annual Haldane Tait Lecture and Dinner will take place on the evening of Wednesday 30th April in the Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh. The event is named after one of the Society’s founding members who was a long-time Secretary and a subsequent President. This year’s speaker is Mr Iain Macintyre, himself a longstanding member of the Society and a regular contributor to it. He is a past President of the British Society (BSHM) a past Vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and someone who has written widely on medical history, not least on military matters. His subject will be 'Medicine & Surgery in the 1745 Jacobite Rising'. The evening starts with a drinks reception at 6.30pm, followed by the Lecture at 7pm, and dinner at around 8pm. The cost for the evening is £45 per head to include drinks beforehand and a three-course meal with wine. We have been asked to pre-order for the meal. For those wishing to attend the lecture and the drinks beforehand, but not staying for dinner, the charge will be £15.

06/04/2025

New website is being built, watch this space!

29/03/2025

Our annual Haldane Tait Lecture this year will be delivered at the Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh on evening of Wednesday 30th April by Dr Iain Macintyre, entitled 'Medicine & Surgery in the 1745 Jacobite Rising'!

01/03/2025

Our Spring Meeting will be in Glasgow on afternoon of Saturday 29th March, held this year in the Renfield Centre in Bath Street (near the King’s Theatre). In trying to foster links with local academia we have presentations from the Centre for the Social History of Health & Healthcare at the University of Strathclyde, & from academic nursing, plus a contribution on anti-vaccination politics from the past, with topical relevance. Programme:
1.00 – 2.00pm: Buffet lunch (soup, sandwiches, fruit)
2.00pm: Six lessons from the history of health and medicine (Prof Matthew Smith, University of Strathclyde)
2.40pm: Medical practice in nineteenth-century Glasgow: the impact of the medical economy (Ms Clare O’Neill, University of Strathclyde)
3.20 – 3.40pm: Tea and coffee
3.40pm: A 'Sherlock' review of the control of THE most famous antibiotic-resistant outbreak (Dr Evonne Curran, Glasgow)
4.20pm: Glasgow's Prof Gordon Stewart and anti-vaccination politics in the 1970s (Mr David Hamilton, St Andrews)

The meeting cost is £45 per head including lunch, tea and coffee.

02/11/2024

This year’s Autumn Meeting of the SSHM will be in Edinburgh on the afternoon of Saturday 16th November 2024, in the Royal Scots Club, 29 Abercromby Place (central Edinburgh). It will be preceded by lunch and the Society’s AGM. The programme of presentations is as below, starting at 2pm:

"The surgeon who shot the Loch Ness Monster" (Mr Iain Macintyre)
"Dr James Africanus Beale Horton – a successful yet forgotten Edinburgh pioneer" (Dr Hilary Morris)
"Cullen (re) discovered: Dr William Cullen and the art of preserving health" (Dr Jeffrey Wolf)
"Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, MD Edinburgh: a 19th century mover and shaker" (Mr Neil Macgillivray)

30/03/2024

Our annual Haldane Tait Lecture and Dinner will take place on the evening of Wednesday 10th April in the Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh. The event is named after one of the Society’s founding members, a long-time Secretary and a subsequent President. This year’s speaker is Professor Graham Watt who was Professor of General Practice at the University of Glasgow from 1994 – 2016 and who remains active in his particular areas of interest, those of health inequality and the practice of medicine in the most deprived areas of Scotland. He has published widely on both topics and has been the recipient of several awards and honours. Graham will talk on his own journey through such fields of interest and on the various influential projects with which he has been involved. The evening starts with a drinks reception at 6.30pm, followed by the Lecture at 7pm, and dinner at around 8pm. The cost for the evening is £45 per head to include drinks beforehand and a three-course meal with wine. We have been asked to pre-order from a choice of two for each course. A vegetarian choice is included but additional dietary options are also available.

03/03/2024

The Spring Meeting of the SSHM will take place in Glasgow on the afternoon of Saturday 23rd March 2024, once again in the Medical Museum of the Royal Infirmary. The Museum is on the north side of Cathedral Square adjacent to the Cathedral. The programme features two talks on Sir William Macewen, a pioneer of neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery in the city, following an earlier career as a GP and Police Surgeon. He died 100 years ago, almost to the day (of the meeting). Adding to this are presentations on fellow Glasgow medical man and explorer David Livingstone, postponed from last year, and on James Moore, a Glasgow-born pioneer of local anaesthesia in the late 18th century.
The programme for the day is:
1 – 2pm: Buffet lunch in the Museum (soup, sandwiches, fruit etc.)
2 – 5pm: Presentations
2.00pm: "Sir William Macewen and brain surgery – how it all began" (Prof Ian Bone, University of Glasgow)
2.40pm: "Sir William Macewen and the Princess Louise Hospital, Erskine – the man for the moment" (Prof Ken Paterson, University of Glasgow)
3.20 – 3.40pm: Tea and coffee
3.40pm: "David Livingstone – medical man and explorer: myth and reality" (Prof Richard Finlay, University of Strathclyde)
4.20pm: "Always read the original (especially now it’s so easy)" (Prof Tony Wildsmith, Gloucestershire)
The cost for the meeting is £45 per head, to include lunch, teas and coffees. Contact Honoray Secretary Dr John Clark.

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