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The Hunterian Society, founded in 1819 in honour of the Scottish surgeon John Hunter (1728–1793), is a society of physicians and dentists based in London.
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Established by Dr William Cooke, a general practitioner, and Thomas Armiger, a surgeon, who both practiced in the City of London and the East End of London, the Society has devoted its activities for nearly two hundred years towards the pursuit of medical knowledge and learning. Meetings are always held over dinner, which precedes the subject for debate.
Between 1815 and 1828, Sir William Blizard (1743–1835), who was a former pupil of John Hunter, praised Hunter at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in three Hunterian Orations, and it is believed to be due to his influence that the new Society adopted the name 'Hunterian', rather than 'The London Medical and Physical Society', which was the name first proposed for it.
Blizard became the Society's first President and had the aim of keeping it within the Hunterian tradition. In an oration of 1826, he said: "May the honoured name of Hunter ever have a magic influence on the minds of its members".
The Society promotes an annual oration and awards an annual medal.
Hunterian Society Oration
According to the rules of the society: "The Annual Oration, to be called the Hunterian Society Oration, shall be delivered by the Orator for the current session, at a Meeting of the Society. The primary purpose of the Oration is to Commemorate the life and work of John Hunter, as also of his brother William Hunter, and to set forth the influence of the Hunterian example and tradition in the development of the science and art of Medicine. This tradition includes exact observation, experiment, and the application of anatomical and physiological science, human and comparative, to practical Medicine. It is not intended to exclude from the scope of the Annual Oration topics bearing upon the History of Medicine, and upon the relation of Medicine to other sciences and to human life in its widest sense, as well as other topics which cannot suitably be made the subject of an ordinary medical communication"..
Not to be confused with the Hunterian oration at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Orators
Source of names 1826-1907 : Hunterian Society
Hunterian Society medal
The gold medal has been awarded annually since 1932 for the best essay on a subject selected by the society.
The silver medal has been awarded since 1908 for the best essay by a general practitioner which embodied the results of his own investigations on the subject of medicine, surgery or midwifery.
The Society gives an annual prize, which is awarded for a presentation on a subject connected to the history of medicine, which "...may be modern but should have a Hunterian flavour". The Award is of £1,000, a medal and one year's membership of the Society.
Hunterian Prize winners:
Presidents
Source for 1819-1906: Hunterian Society