The Society's history

In the early nineteenth century experimental physiology was virtually non-existent in Britain though it flourished in France and Germany. Medical students were largely taught by anatomists, surgeons and physicians. Things started to change in 1836 with the appointment of William Sharpey to a Chair of General Anatomy and Physiology at University College London. Classes in practical physiology were given by a physician George Harley until Michael Foster took over in 1867. Such classes then spread to other London medical schools and, in 1870, to Cambridge when Trinity College appointed Foster Praelector of Physiology.

It was the dinners, with discussion of ‘business’, that constituted the Meetings (Scientific Meetings started in 1880). Scientific communications and demonstrations became more numerous from the 1880s but the dinners remained a pivotal part of each meeting reflecting The Society’s birth as a Dining Club. The Constitution allowed for the election of ‘Men of distinction in science as Honorary Members’; the first two, Charles Darwin and William Sharpey were elected almost at the birth of The Society. Women were admitted as Members in 1915, not without controversy.  

In 1883 Foster was elected to the newly established University Chair in Physiology; in the same year John Burdon Sanderson, who had succeeded Foster at UCL, was appointed to the Waynflete Chair in Oxford. In Scotland, Argyll Robertson was teaching practical physiology in Edinburgh where Hughes Bennett had, in 1842, established the first histology course in Britain. Foster founded The Journal of Physiology in 1878 with financial backing from AG Dew-Smith, a founder Member of The Society.
Darwin
   

The burgeoning of practical physiology involving work on living animals was paralleled by the emergence of those opposed to such experiments. A Royal Commission of Enquiry into Vivisection was set up in 1875. It included TH Huxley the zoologist and the surgeon JE Erichsen, both supporters of experimental physiology. The Commission recommended that work on living vertebrates be governed by an Act of Parliament that required experimenters to be licensed by the Home Secretary, special conditions being imposed for certain types of experiments. Experimental physiologists recognised the need to have a say in any proposals that might unjustifiably hinder progress. It was this need that led to the formation of The Physiological Society in 1876.

At a dinner at Burdon Sanderson’s house on 31 March 1876, nineteen men, all with an interest in physiology, met to discuss the Commission’s proposals and the formation of ‘an association for mutual benefit and protection’. A committee was formed, a constitution drafted and an inaugural dinner held on 26 May. Clause 1 stated that ‘This Society is called “The Physiological Society”’. (Absence of any geographical appellation attracts wry comments from Societies in other parts of the world.)

The Society Dog

The Society’s insignia, a bronze sculpture of a dog exhibiting the scratch reflex, was presented to The Society by Sir Henry Dale in October 1942. Replicas of the dog are given to retiring Officers and distinguished Members of The Society.

Paton Prize Bursary

The Paton Prize was established in 1994 by The Society's History and Archives committee to encourage the study of the major ideas and concepts that have shaped modern physiology. The prize takes the form of a bursary to support such studies, with funding of up to £1000 to cover travel and incidental expenses. The deadline for applications of this prize is the 16 January 2012. If you are interested in aplpying, please send a one-page outline of your proposed work to jberriman@physoc.org.