In 1780 and 1781, amidst war, revolution, and the building of a nation, Massachusetts experienced a burst of institutional creativity. Out of this came the Boston and Massachusetts medical societies. These societies succeeded in bringing together Boston's diversified and contentious medical men (old and new, Whig and Tory) into an institutionalized and more professionally conscious community of physicians. The Boston Medical Society had a direct role in the founding of the Massachusetts Medical Society and an indirect role in the founding of the Harvard Medical School. The three major early goals of the Massachusetts Medical Society were to examine candidates for medical practice, to promote and disseminate medical and scientific knowledge, and to achieve a sense of collegiality and good will among its members. Boston's physicians during the Revolution benefited greatly from the presence of French military doctors.
