List of defunct Johns Hopkins University societies

The Pithotomy club was a medical student club formed by the first senior class in 1897. The original intention of the club was to foster a sense of brotherhood among the students and also to encourage informal interactions between the faculty and students. It started when William G. MacCallum and Joseph L. Nichols had rented a house at 1200 Guilford Avenue and as a housewarming celebration invited Drs. William H. Welch and William Osler, other faculty members, and friends to the house and entertained them with a keg of beer. These gatherings were repeated several times and finally several classmates joined MacCallum and Nichols to organize what became known as the Pithotomy Club.[10] The word "Pithotomy" was invented by MacCallum when he combined the Greek words pithos, meaning vessel, and otomos, meaning to open. Together the words mean, to Pithotomists at least, "to tap a keg."[11] The club's constitution, written in 1897, states its mission in this manner: "the promotion of vice among the virtuous, virtue among the vicious, and good fellowship among all."[4]

The Four Doctors by John Singer Sargent, 1905, the four physicians who founded Johns Hopkins Hospital.
From left to right: William Henry Welch, William Stewart Halsted, Osler, Howard Kelly. Olser and Welch were frequent guests of the Club.

The decade of the turn of the century saw the advent of the Pithotomy Show, an annual event put on by the Pithotomists as they vented four years of frustration toward the faculty while retaining their affection for individual faculty members.[11] For the faculty, the show provided more than a chance to "see ourselves as others see us" by allowing them to spend an informal evening with their colleagues, drink a little too much, sing a little too loudly, and relive what for some professors was decades of show attendance. The show often contained offensive material and was generally regarded as a bit raunchy. The show would eventually lead to the club's demise over a century later.

As the club became older, it became infamous for its vice. Members often engaged in illicit drinking activities during Prohibition and illegal gambling. Neighbors often complained on the incessant partying and noise. The beer slide was one of the most infamous aspects of the club which occurred immediately after the Pithotomy show. The floor was generally covered in beer and members were sent sliding around on the floor. Alumni often recall humorous anecdotes about the beer slide gone wrong.

Although the club was best known for its debauchery, it still produced some of JHU's most accomplished doctors. George Hoyt Whipple was a Pithotomist who graduated in 1905 was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1934. Because membership was typically restricted to the upper tiers of third and fourth year medical students, the club also ironically functioned as an honor society. Many Pithotomists went to have successful medical careers.

Baltimore Sun Cartoon of "The Doctors Club" (1918)

In 1980 the Club began a new activity, or more accurately, revived an old one, the Turtle Derby. The Turtle Derby was first held in 1931 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital when Colonel Frisby, the hospital doorman, kept a number of box turtles in what was called Frisby Farms. The idea occurred to race the turtles, and the Turtle Derby came into being. The house staff assumed sponsorship and the Derby became an increasingly extravagant affair and fund-raiser for Baltimore charities. Unfortunately, house staff apathy killed the Derby in 1977. In September 1979, while dining at the Club, Dr. Henry Siedel, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, suggested that the Pithotomy Club revive the once-popular Derby. The Club undertook the project with much enthusiasm.[12] The Pithotomy Club sponsored Turtle Derby, with the financial backing from the Hospital and School of Medicine, was held on May 16, 1980. Led by Co-chairmen Gary Firestein ('80) and Charles Flexner ('82), the Derby was highly successful. Over one hundred turtles entered races and the Pithotomists sold over three hundred T-shirts and countless buttons. It provided entertainment for the hospital staff and many children from the Children's Medical and Surgical Center and raised money for good causes. The Turtle Derby, which is still going strong, can thus be added to the list of successful Pitotomy Club activities. It still continues to this day.[13]

The beginning of the end came in 1982, when the Pithotomists depicted Dr. Bernadine Healy in a very offensive role. Dr. Healy was highly offended by her portrayal in the show and demanded that the Club be punished and threatened a large lawsuit. Although she left the school soon after, the reputation of the club quickly fell. That show and the club continue to be an example of sexual harassment in medical schools in many publications.[14] The club also lost its house and had to move to less ideal locations, which prevented the day to day interactions which had been pivotal to the club's existence. Coupled with the scandal, the club finally closed its doors in 1992.[10]

Gamma Alpha Phi was a Masonic secret society founded at Homewood in 1921. The society never sought nor had representation on the Inter-Fraternity council. It awarded special awards in the form of keys to undergraduates for outstanding Masonic Research which the society published in the Grand Chapter Minutes. The society eventually grew to found chapters at the University of Maryland, George Washington University and Vanderbilt University. The society is thought to be defunct at the present time, but that is unconfirmed.[15]

The Crest of The Ananias Society

The Ananias Society was a secret society established in the early years of the University. The first mention of the society in the first yearbook published in 1889 under the name "Debutante" (which later becomes the Hullabaloo in 1894). The Society's motto is "Let fa (w) ncy Unmolested Reign" and their colors were similar to the University's colors of Sable & Gold. They referred to their members as either "Lyres Attuned" for initiated members and "Liars Out of Tune" for pledging members. Like most societies of their day, they primarily only publicly referred to their members by their nicknames. The pledging class of 1892 consisted of "The Scorpion", "The Baron", "Julep", "Amelia" and "Sam". The officers of the Society also had strange titles. They continue to be referenced in university publications until for several years, but there is no mention of the Society in neither the Alumni Magazine nor the Hullabaloo soon after.[16]

The Crest of The Senior Society

The Senior Society was another upperclassmen secret society which was founded in 1892. As the name implies, membership was restricted to only eleven newly tapped seniors who revealed themselves at the end of the spring semester. Their exact purpose was unknown, but similar to most senior societies, membership was based on loyalty to the university, academics and prevalence on campus. Their actual name is thought to be known only to members and incorporate the Greek letters " Delta". Their crest, which consists of a rooster and twelve stars appears in other photos and texts in the University Archives. Their motto is οἱ πολλοί (Hoi Polloi), which roughly translates to "The Masses". The phrase became known to English scholars probably from Pericles' Funeral Oration, as mentioned in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Pericles uses it in a positive way when praising the Athenian democracy, contrasting it with hoi oligoi, or oligarchy. During this time, many student groups tended to embrace similar philosophies and were against the centralization of power in the Student Council. Their current existence is speculated, but unconfirmed.[17]

Member List of De Gang (1895)

The archives contain the history of other secret and senior societies. The most prevalent are The Eta Pi Society, De Gang and the Sigma Tau Club.

The Eta Pi Society was an Epicurean society founded at the turn of the century. References can be found in the Hullabaloo and the Alumni Magazine. Members were typically a small number of seniors selected each year. They were known to give beer and pies to new initiates and to certain members of the faculty and administration.

Archives indicate that members, like many of the senior societies, referred to themselves through nicknames. Yearbook pages show that the society was founded by "Little Jack Horner". They remained as an alternative to Greek Life while encouraging drinking and merriment among the student body. Known to be rowdy at social events, they were the main driving force in organizing class dinners and other university social events. They expanded their influence by often recruiting members of student council and other prominent students. They lost much of their influence during the Red Scare, when many secret societies were closed down. They continued to be a part of the university publicly for several decades, until they either stop holding meetings or voluntarily removed themselves from the public eye. The president of the society, generally only referred to by strange nicknames, wore a pin with the initials "ES" below a Flemish Lion, the symbol of the Society, on graduation day.

De Gang & the Sigma Tau Club were senior societies founded in the 1890s. Little is known about De Gang other than its membership rosters. It was founded in 1891. The Sigma Tau Club (STK) was another senior society which was around for a period of twenty years or so. Membership rosters and meeting notes are found in the archives. STK consisted of members who either did not receive bids or did not want to join the Greek letter fraternities at the time.