Other Societies

Membership certificate from the Hahnemann Society, an honorary students' society at Boston University, organized in 1880

As the number of adherents to homeopathy grew and the new system itself grew in popularity, institutions began to appear to support the movement, giving rise to a parallel and alternate medical establishment. The Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society was only one of a number of professional organizations in the area. Like the district societies of the Massachusetts Medical Society, homeopathic societies were active in Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Plymouth and Worcester counties. Starting in 1858, physicians of the city met monthly as the Boston Academy of Homeopathic Medicine. A separate Boston Homeopathic Society was formed in 1868, and the two merged in 1873 to form the Boston Homeopathic Medical Society. There were also social and scientific groups, such as the Hughes Medical Club of Boston, the Lowell Hahnemann Club, the Massachusetts Surgical and Gynaecological Society, the Organon Society of Boston, the Homeopathic Medical Society of Western Massachusetts, the Boston Gynaecological Club, and the Boston Hahnemann Association. On the national level, an American Institute of Homeopathy was formed in 1844 to promote education and continue research into new homeopathic provings.