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The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh
	The Aesculapian Club badge
Formation	1773
Founder	Dr Andrew Duncan, and others
Type	Medical dining club
Purpose	To encourage convivial relations between Fellows of the two medical Royal Colleges in Edinburgh
Location	Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh;

Original Minute Book of the Aesculapian Club

The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan.^[1]^[2]^[3] Membership of the club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. 'Extraordinary Membership' is given to members aged over 70 years. The club was established during the Scottish Enlightenment to encourage convivial relations between Fellows of the two Colleges and to stimulate intellectual discussion. The Club dinners are held in the New Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on the 2nd Friday of March and October each year.^[4] The principal guest at each dinner is invited to give a short talk on a non-medical subject and this is followed by a round-table discussion.^[4]^[5]

Founding members

There were 10 founding members of the Club who attended the first dinner on 2 April 1773.^[4] The minutes of that meeting record that 'The Aesculapian Club was conceived in a happy moment, and in due time brought forth. Doctors Duncan and Hamilton, Messrs Hay, Bell, McLure, and Dewar assisted at the birth on the first Friday of April 1773. They also stood as godfathers at the christening. The usual rites and ceremonies usual on these occasions, such as eating a good supper, etc., were concluded with a bumper recommendatory of the club to the peculiar care of Apollo, of Bacchus, and of Venus, Floreat Res Medica. Vivat Veritas.' The club was named after Asclepius, the Greek God of medicine, more usually known by the Roman name, Aesculapius. Aesculapius was the son of Apollo, who was himself both the God of physic and the sender of disease.^[6] The badge of the Club consists of the Latin motto 'Floreat Res Medica' (Let the medical field flourish) and a cockerel. Cockerels adorn many of the fixtures and fittings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.^[7] In Greek mythology cockerels were dedicated to Apollo (because their crowing gave notice of the rising sun) and to Aesculapius (because their example of 'early to bed and early to rise' was associated with good health).^[8]

List of Founder Members^[1]^[3]^[4]
Number	Name	Year of Election	Year of Resignation/Death
1	Dr. Andrew Duncan 'The Elder'	1773	Died 1828
2	Mr. William Chalmer	1773	Died 1784
3	Mr. Andrew Wood	1773	Resigned 1803
4	Dr. James Lind	1773	Resigned 1774
5	Dr. James Hamilton "Senior"	1773	Resigned 1798
6	Mr. Benjamin Bell	1773	Resigned 1798
7	Mr. Thomas Hay	1773	Resigned 1803-11
8	Mr. Forrest Dewar	1773	Resigned 1803-11
9	Mr. Hamilton McLure	1773	Died 1789
10	Mr. Colin Lauder	1773	Resigned 1792

Many of these individuals were founder members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh, which was established in 1782 and still meets on an annual basis.

Former members and previous meetings

There have been 313 past and present members of the Aesculapian Club. Notable former Aesculpians include James Lind, Daniel Rutherford, Thomas Hope, James Syme, Sir James Young Simpson, Lord Joseph Lister, Joseph Bell, Douglas Argyll Robertson, Sir Thomas Clouston, Daniel Cunningham, James Haig Ferguson, Sir James Learmonth and Sir Stanley Davidson.^[4]

A photograph or picture of Aesculapians from 1821 to the present day is preserved in a 2-volume album. The first volume, which extends to 1939, is kept with other historic papers of the club (including the minutes of previous meetings) in the library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The Club owns a considerable number of silver cups or pocula and other table adornments. These include six silver cups with circular rows of hooks, on each of which is hung a medallion with the engraved name, date of election and crest of a former Aesculapian. Three of these cups were presented by the Gymnastic Club (also founded by Dr. Andrew Duncan) on its dissolution in 1836.^[3] One of the cups, which contains 9 medallions from 1788 to 1792, is on display in the National Museums of Scotland.^[5]

The Aesculapian Club was originally a supper club and met on the first Friday of every month in local taverns. In 1810, it was converted into a dinner club, with quarterly meetings in March, June, September and December in Edinburgh hotels. In 1924, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh granted permission for the dinners to be held in the New Library.^[9] Although the frequency of dinners has been reduced over the years, the club has met almost continually since its inception. The only times when the Club did not meet were between March 1915 to December 1919 (due to the First World War), October 1939 to December 1945 (due to the Second World War)^[5] and March 2020 to October 2021 (due to the COVID pandemic).^[4] Several toasts are given throughout the dinner with the final one being "Floreat res medica"; this is a traditional toast, attributed to Andrew Duncan, which is given at the end of many medical dinners in Edinburgh.

Current members and extraordinary members

List of current members and extraordinary members^[4]
Number	Names	Year of Election	Membership Status
264	Professor Sir David C Carter	1987	Extraordinary
268	Professor Sir Christopher RW Edwards	1992	Extraordinary
270	Mr. Iain Macintyre	1992	Extraordinary
275	Professor John Hunter OBE	1997	Extraordinary
276	Mr. Simon Paterson-Brown	1998	Surgeon
278	Dr. Niall Finlayson CBE	2001	Extraordinary
280	Professor Stuart Macpherson OBE	2003	Extraordinary
281	Professor Ian Campbell	2004-2008	Extraordinary
282	Dr. Nicholas Boon	2004-2008	Extraordinary
283	Professor O James Garden CBE	2004-2008	Extraordinary
284	Professor Sir John Savill	2004-2008	Extraordinary
285	Professor Robert Steele CBE	2008	Extraordinary
286	Dr. Kelvin 'Kel' Palmer	2008-2010	Extraordinary
287	Professor Brian Williams	2008-2010	Extraordinary
288	Mr Robert Jeffrey	2008-2010	Extraordinary
289	Dr. Alastair MacGilchrist	2010	Physician
290	Professor Allan Cumming	2012	Extraordinary
291	Mr. James 'Sam' Patton	2012	Surgeon
292	Professor Michael Griffin OBE	2012	Surgeon
293	Professor James Hutchison	2012	Surgeon
294	Professor Sir John Iredale	2013	Physician
295	Mr. Murat Akyol	2014	Surgeon
296	Professor Mark WJ Strachan	2014	Physician
297	Dr. Andrew Flapan	2014	Physician
298	Professor Stephen Wigmore	2014	Surgeon
299	Professor Ian Finlay CBE	2015	Extraordinary
300	Dr. Ian Penman	2015	Physician
301	Professor Colin Howie	2015	Extraordinary
302	Professor Andrew Morris CBE	2015	Physician
303	Professor John McKnight	2016	Physician
304	Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie OBE	2018	Extraordinary
305	Dr. Caroline Whitworth	2020	Physician
306	Professor Stephen Lawrie	2022	Physician (Psychiatrist)
307	Professor Angela Eleine Thomas OBE	2022	Physician (Haematologist)
308	Mr. John Casey	2022	Surgeon
309	Ms. Rachel Guest	2022	Surgeon
310	Dr. Elaine Henry	2023	Physician
311	Mr. Andrew Duckworth	2024	Surgeon
312	Professor Farhat Din	2024	Surgeon
313	Mr. David Boddie	2024	Surgeon

Honorary Secretary

The Secretary of the Aesculapian Club acts also as the Treasurer and is responsible for the management of all affairs of the club. The Secretary is appointed ad vitam aut culpam.^[3] There have been 16 secretaries of the club: Dr. Andrew Duncan (1773-1827); Dr. Richard Huie (1827-1842); Dr. Robert Omond (1842-1877); Dr. Daniel Rutherford Haldane (1877-1887); Dr. John Smith Jr. (1887-1905); Dr. Charles Edward Underhill (1905-1908); Sir George Andreas Berry (1908-1924); Dr. William Fordyce (1924-1933); Dr. William James Stuart (1933-1949); Lt-Col Alexander Dron Stewart (1949–55); Professor Robert William Johnstone (1955-1958); Dr. Clifford Kennedy (1958-1978); Mr. Iain MacLaren 1978–2004; Dr. Anthony 'Tony' Douglas Toft (2004-2014); Dr. Kelvin 'Kel' Palmer (2014-2022); Professor Mark William John Strachan (2022–present). A badge for the Secretary was designed by Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan in 1857. The badge consists of a silver medal bearing the name of the club with a series of silver bars on the ribbon, each inscribed with the name of a Secretary and their years of office.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Guthrie, Douglas. The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh. University of Edinburgh.
^ Smith, John (1888). Records of the Aesculapian. Frank Murray.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Stuart, William J. History of the Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh. Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh: Darien Press Ltd, Edinburgh.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Minute Books of the Aesculapian Club. Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chalmers, John (2010). Andrew Duncan Senior; Physician of the Enlightenment. Edinburgh: National Museums Scotland. pp. 115–121. ISBN 978-1-905267309.
^ Stanton, Judith Anne (February 1999). "Aesculapius: A Modern Tale". JAMA. 281 (5): 476–477. doi:10.1001/jama.281.5.476-JMS0203-4-1. PMID 9952212.
^ Emslie Smith, D (March 2008). "Is the College an Aesklepieion?" (PDF). J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 38: 78–84.
^ Dunlop, JM (1993). "Apollo and the College cocks". Proc R Coll Physicians Edinb. 23: 68–72.
^ Jenkinson, Jacqueline (1993). Scottish Medical Societies 1731-1939. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 122. ISBN 0748603905.