Medical Societies, State.—On Feb. 10, 1859, the governor approved an act of the territorial legislature providing for the incorporation of the Kansas Medical Society and naming 29 physicians as the incorporators. They were M. Bailey, H. H. Beals, G. W. Beaumont, J. G. Blunt, O. Brown, H. J. Canniff, A. Danford, A. Fuller, William Graham, S. C. Harrington, M. Hartman, M. F. Holaday, Amory Hunting, C. F. Kobb, J. Leigh, T. Linsey, W. Madison, C. E. Miner, A. Newman, J. M. Pelot, J. H. Phelps, S. B. Prentiss, A. J. Richey, Charles Robinson, J. W. Robinson, J. P. Root, L. C. Tolles, J. B. Wheeler and J. B. Woodward.

The same day a portion of the incorporators met at Lawrence and effected an organization by electing Dr. S. B. Prentiss president and Dr. J. B. Woodward, secretary. A committee was appointed to formulate a constitution and by-laws, and one to prepare a code of ethics. At the meeting on Feb. 23, 1860, the code of ethics of the American Medical Association was adopted, as was also the constitution and by-laws prepared by the committee appointed the preceding year. Delegates to the American Medical Association were elected for the first time in 1867, when the Kansas society underwent a reorganization, and the annual meetings have since been dated from that year. The act of 1859 conferred on the society the power to issue certificates to all its members, to grant licenses to respectable physicians who were not graduates of medical colleges, and to organize auxiliary societies in the several counties of Kansas. At the meeting in 1867 resolutions were adopted urging the members to further the organization of such auxiliary societies, Fifteen years later there were in existence the Northwestern Medical Society, the Southern Kansas Medical Society, the Eastern Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas Valley Medical Society, and the Third Judicial District Medical Society, all of which were adjuncts to the state organization. Others organized later were the Golden Belt Medical Society, the Eastern Central branch of the state society, the Missouri Valley Medical Society, and there are a large number of county and city societies in the state.

On June 1, 1867, the first number of the Medical Herald was issued at Leavenworth by Logan & Sinks. It was succeeded by the Kansas Medical Index, published at Fort Scott by Dr. F. F. Dickman as the organ of the state medical society. The Kansas Medical Journal began its career in 1889, and subsequently the name was changed to the Journal of the Kansas Medical Society. It is published at Kansas City, Kan.

In recent years the annual meetings of the society have usually been held in May, at such places as the society selects. The officers elected at the annual meeting of 1911 were as follows: President, J. T. Axtell; vice-presidents, George M. Gray, H. G. Welch and G. W. Anderson; secretary, Charles S. Huffman; treasurer, L. H. Munn. The membership runs into hundreds, all parts of the state being represented. Concerning the meeting of 1911 the Medical Journal says: "The attendance, while not up to the standard set at the last meeting at Kansas City, was good. Two hundred and thirty members signed the registration book."

Through the influence of the society, an act was passed by the Kansas legislature making it "unlawful for any person to practice medicine in Kansas who has not attended two full courses of instruction and graduated in some respectable school of medicine in the United States or some foreign country, or produces a certificate of qualification from some state or county medical society." The act also provided for a fine of from $50 to $100 for each violation of the law, to which might be added imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 30 days.

The above refers to the Allopathic or "regular" school of medicine, On April 14, 1869, a number of Homeopathic physicians assembled at Leavenworth and organized the Homeopathic Medical Society of Kansas, with the following officers: President, Richard Huson; vice-president, James A. Rubicon; secretary and treasurer, Martin Mayer; board of censors, Lewis Grassmuck, B. L. Davis, W. B. Bolton, R. M. Huntington and J. J. Edie. The society was incorporated under the laws of the state on Jan. 24, 1871, with John J. Edie, H. F. Klemp, J. A. Rubicon, Richard and S. K. Huson as charter members. Annual meetings have since been held, at which topics relating to the medical profession are discussed, the proceedings frequently closing with a banquet. The 1911 meeting was held at Kansas City, and the banquet was a joint affair with the Missouri Homeopathic Society. The officers elected in 1911 were as follows: Dr. O. L. Barlinghouse, of Iola, president; Dr. C. D. Armstrong, of Salina, secretary; Dr. Marian E. Swift, of Topeka, treasurer.

An Eclectic Medical Association was organized on June 1, 1869, at Lawrence, with Samuel E. Martin, of Topeka, president; N. Simmons, of Lawrence, recording secretary; M. Summerfield, of Lawrence, corresponding secretary; David Surber, of Perry, treasurer. This association later developed into a state organization, which was incorporated by the act of March 27, 1871, as the Kansas Eclectic Medical Association, Daniel B. Crouse, Ansel M. Eidson, George H. Field, Samuel E. Martin, David Surber and Caleb D. Ward as incorporators. In 1883 a joint stock company was formed under a charter providing for a capital stock of $30,000 for the purpose of establishing a medical college, but the institution never became a reality. The society still holds annual meetings, and in 1911 numbered several hundred members.

By the act of Feb. 27, 1879, the three medical societies—Allopathic, Homeopathic and Eclectic—were each authorized to appoint a board of examiners of seven members to pass upon the qualifications of and issue certificates to the physicians of the state. Every practitioner was required to show his diploma to the board representing the school of which he was a member, and to make an affidavit that he was the lawful possessor of the same, and that the institution issuing it was engaged in good faith in the business of imparting medical instruction, etc. This law was decided unconstitutional by the state supreme court in Jan., 1881, when the boards were "summarily deposed." No efficient law for the examination and licensing of physicians was then placed on the statute books until the act of March 1, 1901, which provided for a board of "medical examination and registration." This board was made to consist of seven members "who shall be physicians in good standing in their profession, and who shall have received the degree of doctor of medicine from some reputable medical college or university not less than six years prior to their appointment, representation to be given to the different schools of practice as nearly as possible in proportion to their numerical strength in the state, but no one school to have a majority of the whole board."

In the apointment[sic] of the first board one member was to be appointed for one year, two for two years, two for three years, and two for four years, after which all appointments were to be for four years. With some slight modifications this is still the law of the state. The board is composed of three Allopaths, two Homeopaths and two Eclectics. It examines into the qualifications of all physicians of the state, and has been a stimulus to the medical societies of the several schools.