DEVELOPMENT IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 311 



have been built in connection with large universities; while the 

 magnificent gift of the Rockefeller Institute for Original Research 

 affords another example of the influence which these establish- 

 ments exercise in the development of medicine and surgery. In 

 the Carnegie Institute there is a fund yielding over $300,000 per 

 year to be expended on its work. In a conservative estimate the 

 property investment in all kinds of medical institutions, such as 

 hospitals, laboratories, medical colleges, health department bureaus, 

 training-schools for nurses, etc., is three or four hundred millions 

 of dollars, not to mention the endowment funds. 



That the foundation of medical schools has had a great influ- 

 ence in the history and development of surgery becomes apparent 

 when it is considered that about a hundred years ago there were 

 only 200 medical men in practice in this country, while to-day 

 there are over 100,000 workers in the field. A century ago our own 

 country could boast of only two small medical schools, while now 

 there are 154 medical schools, affording instruction to 26,821 

 students annually, many of whom will work in the chosen field of 

 surgery; and nearly all of these medical schools are an integral 

 part of some great university; $418,000,000 scarcely represents the 

 value of the property belonging to medical schools, and $8,000,000 

 their endowment. 



The recent munificent gift by Colonel Payne to Cornell Uni- 

 versity for the establishment of a medical department in New York 

 City marks a most important epoch in the education of the phy- 

 sician and surgeon in the country. It is a fact worthy of honorable 

 mention that the wealthy men of the present century have con- 

 tributed most liberally to the science of medicine, as is obvious 

 from a review of the recent different gifts and endowments amount- 

 ing to many millions, especially during the past few years. 



That the establishment of training-schools for nurses has had 

 much to do with the progress of surgery is obvious when it is con- 

 sidered that about a quarter of a century ago there was not an 

 American trained nurse, if any, in the United States. To-day there 

 are about 11,000 pupils, and nearly 20,000 graduates. The inaugura- 

 tion of the first training-school for nurses in the United States 

 at Bellevue Hospital in 1873 marks an important epoch in the 

 history of modern surgery in this country. From the initial school 

 at Bellevue others have been established throughout the country, 

 and now every important hospital in the land has a competent corps 

 of trained nurses as an essential feature of the modern hospital. 

 The far-reaching and widespread influence of the Bellevue training- 

 school, which was the first in this country to grant a diploma, can- 

 not be over-estimated, as it relates to the improvement in the care 

 of the sick, to the establishment of other training-schools, and to 



