Society of Russian Doctors

The forerunner of medical scientific societies was the Free Economic Society , which from the first days of its existence paid much attention to the promotion of hygienic knowledge, and from the 1830s to the fight against child mortality . In the second half of the 19th century, it became the leading center for smallpox .

In 1804, the Society for the Competition of Medical and Physical Sciences at the University of Moscow was founded, renamed in 1845 the Physical-Medical Society .

In 1834 ^[1] in St. Petersburg, in addition to the German medical society Deutsche Arzliche Verein ^[2] with large entry and membership fees, which arose in 1819, appeared, acting in accordance with the progressive democratic charter signed by Emperor Nicholas I , open to all Russian doctors Empire of any faith and origin "Society of Russian doctors."

The founder of the company Semyon Fedorovich Volsky recalled:

The intention that I had undertaken to found the Society of Russian Doctors, foreign doctors in Russian service, and many domestic doctors, especially the baronet Y. V. Willie , was viewed with dislike to such an extent that the military doctors had to leave the Society so as not to lose their service ; and Dr. Nagumovich and Life Medic Mandt in writing refused their promise to take part in the founding of the Society.

Among the founders of the company were, in addition to S. F. Volsky, S. F. Gayevsky ^[3] , life physician I. V. Enokhin ^[4] , doctor of medicine A. N. Nikitin , life-surgeon D. K. Tarasov ^{[ 5]} and the family physician of the family A. S. Pushkin I. T. Spassky . The rector of the Medical and Surgical Academy P. A. Zagorsky and the chairman of the already mentioned Verein Society of German Doctors I.F. Bush became honorary members of the institution. Members of the society were N. F. Arendt , F. P. Gerardi , N. I. Pirogov and other famous St. Petersburg doctors ^[6] . In 1883 A.P. Borodin was elected an honorary member.

The minutes of the meetings were published in the weekly medical newspaper Friend of Health . Since 1856, the Society began to regularly publish the minutes of its meetings. The company worked closely with both the I.E. Andreevsky Russian Society for the Protection of Public Health and the University of St. Petersburg, and the Red Cross Society, chaired by S.P. Botkin . During the leadership of the Society of Russian Doctors by S.P. Botkin and his student I.P. Pavlov, all the doctors of Russia, Finland and Poland sought to attend meetings of the company. After Botkin’s death, the society became known as the “Society of Russian Doctors in Memory of S. P. Botkin”. It annually held memorial services for S. P. Botkin ^[7] and memorial meetings with the participation of scientists who reported on their achievements and the family of S. P. Botkin. After the death of I.M.Sechenov, the Society of Russian Doctors in memory of S.P. Botkin likewise noted the memory of I.M.Sechenov. For 10 years, the editor of the journal Proceedings of the Society of Russian Doctors was Mikhail Vladimirovich Yanovsky .

Since 1897, meetings of the Society took place in the premises of the Pirogovsky Museum, for the construction of which money was collected by subscription among all Russian Zemstvos. In the museum halls, surgical preparations, instruments, special apparatuses, and documents were collected. The general conference of doctors and meetings of representatives of separate branches of medicine were held in the meeting room. For visitors, hotel rooms were equipped. The building of the Pirogovsky Museum was demolished for the construction of the Leningrad Hotel, and museum funds were transferred to the Museum of the Military Medical Academy.

Company Chairmen

• Efim Ivanovich Andreevsky (1834-1840)
• Semyon Fedorovich Volsky (1840-1849?)
• Peter Alexandrovich Dubovitsky ^{[8] [9]}
• Sergei Petrovich Botkin (1878-1889)
• Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1906-1913) ^[10]

The Society of Russian Doctors in Moscow was founded in 1858 at the initiative of F. I. Inozemtsev

My friends, said Inozemtsev to his students, “while I am alive, I will serve you in word and deed. But it does not stop you from thinking that we are mortal; in the name of your common good, you must find an immortal face. This is possible if you form a collective institution, a society made up of many people, but governed by a single mind and one goal.

and S. A. Smirnov , who wrote:

We see examples of established learned societies that have snoozed for nearly half a century over their charter without producing a single living thought. We do not need such meetings at this time.

In 1860, 22 meetings were held, at which 216 messages were heard. The society lived a full-blooded life, but only 1 year 8 months after the signing of the draft charter, on June 15, 1861, it officially opened. By the day of the official opening of the “Society of Russian Doctors in Moscow,” it had 26 members, but it began to grow rapidly and by January 1, 1862, it already included 55 people.

At first, the Moscow Medical Newspaper , edited by Inozemtsev and Smirnov, was published in 1858. Since 1879, the “Works” of the company began to appear (twice a year), in which the protocols of the company were published since 1881 ^[11] . At the company's 500 meetings, up to 10,000 reports were heard. The company has established 5 scholarships for the issuance of children or relatives of members of the society. Society, due to the fact that F.I. Inozemtsev transferred all his property to him, but he lived and died in poverty, had his own house, hospital, pharmacy and library (1800 volumes). On March 25, 1865, an outpatient clinic and pharmacy was opened at 4 Arbat Society, where it was possible to receive treatment and medicines at low prices, 30% - 40% cheaper than it was in other places, and by the poor and medical care and medicines were provided free of charge. 64,000 rubles were dispensed from the pharmacy of the company for free. About 1 million patients visited the hospital over 30 years of work; free visitors were up to 40,000 people ^[12] .

In 1870, the company moved into its own, built for it on Arbat, house number 25, where it remained until closing in 1918.

The Society of Russian Doctors in Moscow was the first association of Russian doctors that not only fought for the development of public medicine in Russia, but actually created public medicine in Moscow at a level not inferior to the level of charity work of German doctors (one of them is Dr. Haas ). And this is the first society in Moscow, known to the widest mass of doctors who sympathized with its goals and in various forms took part in its activities. According to his model, more than 50 provincial, provincial medical societies were created. Pupil F.I. Inozemtsev and a member of his circle S.P. Botkin headed the Society of Russian Doctors in St. Petersburg and the Red Cross Society.

A special place among the medical societies of Russia was occupied by the Society of Russian Doctors in memory of N.I. Pirogov , founded in 1881. It had its own magazine, numerous branches in various cities, every two years regularly gathered congresses of Russian doctors, which went down in history under the name Pirogovsky congresses.

Company Chairmen

• Ivan Matveevich Sokolov (1861 -?) ^[13]
• Nikolai Kononovich Berkut (? - 1890) ^[14]

The societies of Russian doctors have become the cradle of the congresses of Russian naturalists and doctors. Numerous special medical societies subsequently budded from them - therapists, surgeons, gynecologists, ophthalmologists, etc. ^[15] . So, after the civil war, instead of the Society of Russian Doctors, where, due to disagreements with V. M. Bekhterev regarding the ankylosing spondylitis theory, I. P. Pavlov left, the St. Petersburg Therapeutic Society was founded on a platform of sobriety and with the participation of the former chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors I.P. Pavlov, who continued to hold memorial meetings in memory of I.M.Sechenov and S.P. Botkin.

The good work of reviving the Society of Russian Doctors was undertaken by Nadezhda Zhuravleva (previous leader Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, 1858-1917), the successor to the Society of Russian Doctors, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cosmonaut Training Center, chairman of the Moscow Medical Chamber of Moscow, professor of MAFO.

In a historic building on 25 Stary Arbat Street, where eminent doctors gathered, she created the National Academy of Health, where meetings of specialists in the field of medicine are held. The priority is the program of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin “The quality of human life in Russia”, in accordance with which meetings and seminars are held aimed at reviving the traditions of proper nutrition. With the participation of the First Medical Academy. I.M.Sechenov and the Russian Academy of Sciences created a consultation of professors. Citizens of the Russian Federation can seek medical help in the image of the historical society of doctors.

• Societies // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Collection of bookplates of the Imperial Public Library.