The Rise of the Practice of Internal Medicine as a Specialty

Abstract

IN 1865,¹ the first meeting of the American Medical Association after any war was held in Boston and was a happy occasion. The official point of assembly for the delegates was the chamber of the House of Representatives at the State House (Fig. 1); there were welcoming speeches by His Excellency the Governor and His Honor the Mayor, a program of serious medical papers and a great deal of enjoyable entertainment with accompanying collations, balls and concerts. The final event was an evening trip along Boston Harbor on the steamship Rose Standish, concluded by a clambake and a triumphal . . .