SHORT HISTORY OF

THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICIAN AND NATURALISTS, IASI, ROMANIA

„Din brazda adâncă şi fertilă trasată de această

Societate au apărut Muzeul [de Istorie Naturală], Academia [Mihăileană] şi Universitatea din Iaşi.”
C. I. Istrati, 1887

Foundation and headquarters

On January 11th, 1830 the Iasi Medical Reading Circle was set up by Dr. Mihail Zotta, who graduated from the Vienna
University, and Dr. Jacob Czihac, who studied in Heidelberg.

Dr. Mihail Zotta Dr. Jacob Czihac

The association brought together 21 members, part of the Medical Commission of the ”Saint Spiridon” Hospital in
Iasi, and was hosted in Dr. Czihac`s houses.

List of the 21 founding members

 On March 18th, 1833, The Reading Circle was transformed into a Medical-Natural Historical Society, and its statutes
officially approved. The Government of Moldova gave the following response to the request of the doctors` initiative
committee: ”The Government embracing with benevolence such a proposal gave his formal approval by the act dated
March 18th, 1833 ... for the foundation, in Moldova, of a Society of Medicine and Natural History”.

The statutes of the Medical-Natural Historical Society

Other locations of the Society were in a hall of squire Bals houses, Green Bridge lane (now Carol Boulevard), in
Gheorghe Asachi`s houses and in Petrache Cazimir`s ones.
Soon, a special building was purchased on Hagioaiei lane in the Upper-Town (currently 16, Independence Boulevard)
owned by the Governor Constantin (Costache) Sturdza – further SMN president –– and his wife Agripina, with the
mention: ”I sold forever to the Society of Natural History here in Moldova for 3000 gold ducats my houses on the upper-
town lane (....) nobody else having the legal right to claim the houses (...). I also gave the Society 20 square fathoms
(....)”.

The resolution issued on May 22nd, 1835, signed by Prince Mihail Sturdza said: ”we approve (the sale ...), and
the houses will be used by the Society”, fact mentioned in the Princely Divan Bill no. 4953 from October 31st, 1844.
 A Library, but a Museum, too
Today`s Society of Physicians and Naturalists (SMN) was first called ”The Medical-Natural History Society”,
then ”The Moldavian-Romanik Medical Society”. From the beginning it included a Library and the first Cabinet of
Natural History in the country, inaugurated on February 4th, 1834.
The Society of Physicians and Naturalists, its museum, also known as the Cabinet of Natural History or ”Elephant
Gaba House” - the current Museum of Natural Sciences - and a library - the current Medical Library - developed mainly
by donations; elephant Gaba belonged to the Italian circus ”Luzzatto”, and died in Iasi in 1834. Its purchase cost about
135 crowns (nearly 5,000 quid), and the skeleton was ultimately donated by Prince Mihail Surza, one of the first SMN
presidents.

The Cabinet of Natural History or ”Elephant Gaba House”

In the meeting hall of the new SMN headquarters, next to the ”elephant hall”, on January 3 rd, 1859, Alexandru
Ioan Cuza was elected as a candidate to the throne of Moldavia, this event being the preliminary step in the achievement
of the Small Union of the Danubian Principalities, actively backed up by most SMN members.

In the archives of the Museum of Natural History now located on 16, Independence Boulevard it is recorded that:
”This museum is owned by the Society of Physicians and Naturalists founded in 1833 due to the perseverance of Colonel
Dr. Jacob Czihac, with the help of Dr. Michail Zotta, chief physician of the Capital town (protomedicus of Iasi), and the
first president of the Society, being approved by the Government (Decree no. 279 of March 18th, 1833) which gave an
annual grant for setting up a museum and rendering its collections available to the public”.
These latter soon included fascinating geological and mineralogical specimens, archeological artifacts, exhibits
illustrating the Moldavian and international fauna and particularly the Moldavian flora.
Initially, the institution had the character of a small academy of sciences and arts to later focus on its first
purpose, the advancement of knowledge and medical-sanitary and pharmaceutical organization. With certain regularity,
scientific meetings were held in the evening.

SMN members from all over the world

The Society with three sections - medicine, natural history and agronomy – quickly became known abroad,
having, among others, as outstanding members and donors General Count Kiseleff (Russia), Alexander von Humboldt
(Germany), Prince Demidoff (France), Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy, Metropolitan Veniamin Costache, Gheorghe
Asachi, Jacob Czihac himself, Grigore Ghica-Voivod, Elena Cuza, Costache Vârnav, Panaite Bals, Dimitrie Sturdza,
Mihail Petrini Galatzi, E. Racoviță, Constantin I. Istrati, King Carol I, who, ”on September 23rd, 1885, while in Iasi,
visited with his retenue the Society, its Museum and Library”.

E. Racoviţă Ghe. Asachi M. Petrini Galatzi C. I. Istrati

Among the honorary and corresponding members of the SMN there were a lot of Romanian personalities living
outside Moldova and the borders of the Romanian Lands, along with famous foreign scientists such as: Haeckel,
Hufeland, Humboldt, Berzelius, Treviranus, Léon Poincaré, Adrien Proust, Just Lucas-Championnière, Richard Bright,
Robert Koch, Wilhelm Waldeyer, Carl Ludwig, Paul Ducor, André Lemierre and many others.
 They came from Heidelberg, Freiburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Sankt Petersburg, Stockholm, Viena, Paris, London,
Geneva, Lausanne, Zürich, Dresden, Prague, Buda-Pesta and other well-known Western metropolises.

The first Botanical Garden

Thanks to the SMN president, Dr. Anastasie Fătu, in 1856, the first Botanical Garden in the Principalities was
planted in Iaşi, and reactivated in 1873 by the ”father of Romanian botany”, Dr. Dimitrie Brândza, another outstanding
SMN member.

The first periodical of a Romanian learned society

After several meritorious pioneering attempts between 1844-1845 and 1851-1853, the SMN managed to have its
own journal in Romanian. On November 28th, 1886, under the chairmanship of Dr. Ioan Ciurea, ”after long debates and
finally surpassed endless obstacles, the steadfast publication of the Society Bulletin in serious, competent and useful
form” was decided. It was the beginning of the first medical periodical in the Romanian Principalities edited by a
scientific association in the people`s language. On January 1st, 1887, the first issue of the Bulletin of the Society of
Physicians and Naturalists of Jassy was bilingually printed in Romanian and French with the help of many members and
”some of the most distinguished professors of the Faculty of Medicine of Iaşi”, founded in 1879, equally with the SMN
support.
 Since 1887 until today, the Society has published its Bulletin, later renamed ”The Medical-Surgical Journal”, the
oldest medical journal in today`s Romania. It has reached its 123rd year of existence, it is now published exclusively in
English, it is included in Index Medicus, MEDLINE and indexed in other international databases, and is currently
evaluated by Clarivate Anlytics Web of Science Core Collection for quotation as a valuable medical publication.

Historical role
SMN has always been vividly involved in the important historical events that marked modern Romania`s history:
the revolutionary movement in 1848, the Union of the Romanian Principalities (1859), the Independence War (1877), the
Great War (1916-1918), the Greater Union of Romania, the Second World War (1939-1945). It has constantly promoted
medicalization, professionalization and industrialization of Romanian society, promoting national, social, and economic
emancipation based on both mass and high education.

Presidents and perspectives

During its 189 years celebrated in 2019, SMN had 68 presidents, most of whom were physicians, notable figures
of the ancient ”St. Spiridon” Epitropy and of the high medical education institution, founded in Iaşi 140 years ago, in
1879. Among them there were some members of the Romanian Academy, deans and rectors of the Iasi academic
establishment.
Throughout its development, many SMN priorities were identified, which highlighted the main coordinates of its
becoming and capital role.
Nowadays it is above all due to the Museum of Natural History and the Medical-Surgical Journal (Revista
Medico-Chirurgicală) that the SMN continues to be known, surviving excessive globalization trends and confessing an
intelligent approach in the evolution of our nation.
It is therefore necessary to understand and assume this brilliant milestone in the history of edification of European
Romania, while identifying resources able to revitalize this potential nucleus of civilization for the indigenous world.

SMN anniversary day is June 29th.

Prof dr. Dana Baran