nd inconceivable subjects were
frequently read or improvised by members _ad libitum_. I remember
something of a remarkable one from Dr. Alden, upon part of a
skeleton of a superannuated horse, which he made to do duty for
the remains of a great German Professor with an unspeakable name.

"Degrees were conferred upon all the members,--M.D. or D.M.[46]
according to their rank, which is explained in the Catalogue.
Honorary degrees were liberally conferred upon conspicuous persons
at home and abroad. It is said that one gentleman, at the South, I
believe, considered himself insulted by the honor, and complained
of it to the College government, who forthwith broke up the
Society. But this was long after my time, and I cannot answer for
the truth of the tradition. Diplomas were given to the M.D.'s and
D.M.'s in ludicrous Latin, with a great seal appended by a green
ribbon. I have one, somewhere. My name is rendered _Filius
Steti_."

A graduate of the class of 1828 writes: "I well remember that my
invitation to attend the meeting of the Med. Fac. Soc. was written
in barbarous Latin, commencing 'Domine Crux,' and I think I passed
so good an examination that I was made _Professor longis
extremitatibus_, or Professor with long shanks. It was a society
for purposes of mere fun and burlesque, meeting secretly, and
always foiling the government in their attempts to break it up."

The members of the Society were accustomed to array themselves in
masquerade dresses, and in the evening would enter the houses of
the inhabitants of Cambridge, unbidden, though not always
unwelcome guests. This practice, however, and that of conferring
degrees on public characters, brought the Society, as is above
stated, into great disrepute with the College Faculty, by whom it
was abolished in the year 1834.

The Catalogue of the Society was a burlesque on the Triennial of
the College. The first was printed in the year 1821, the others
followed in the years 1824, 1827, 1830, and 1833. The title on the
cover of the Catalogue of 1833, the last issued, similar to the
titles borne by the others, was, "Catalogus Senatus Facultatis, et
eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus
laurea donati sunt in Facultate Medicinae in Universitate
Harvardiana constituta, Cantabrigiae in Republica Massachusettensi.
Cantabrigiae: Sumptibus Societatis. MDCCCXXXIII. Sanguinis
circulationis post patefactionem Anno CCV."

The Prefaces to the Catalogues