THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



75 



land bounded onl the West by Second 

 avenue, on the North by Twenty-eighth 

 street, on the South by Twenty-sixth 

 street, and on the East by the East River; 

 about six acres of ground, and they paid 

 the enormous sum of $35 an acre for 

 it. It is worth almost $35 a square 

 foot to-day. Now there was more wis- 

 dom and sagacity in making such a 

 good real estate investment. The first 

 hospital built was the main building 

 that you see here in the center. That 

 was the first building. It was put up in 

 1806, and that served not only as the 

 Charity Hospital of the city but it was 

 also the alms-house, the penitentiary, 

 and it served for a workhouse for those 

 who had to be sent to such a place. Now 

 they have put on these enormous wings, 

 and aside from this there are six pavilions 

 and two chapels, besides the Morgue and 

 a whole lot of other buildings added since 

 that time. 



Now this gives you a little idea when 

 you compare the growth of that hospital 

 down near City Hall with five beds, and 

 then look at what is done in this hospital, 

 where they treat from 15,000 to 17,000 

 internes alone every year. You can get 

 some idea of the growth, not only of the 

 city, but of sickness and those who need 

 charities in a city of this kind. 



Now there is a picture of a stretcher, 

 and we often say when we see a person 

 being carried on a stretcher, "See that 

 poor tellow on a stretcher." But it was 

 a wise Providence that led some one to 

 invent the stretcher, for if you had to be 

 carried upstairs from one ward to an- 

 other by two attendants, one taking hold 

 of your shoulders and another your feet, 

 and neither of them keeping step, prob- 

 ably, and then be carried on a stretcher, 

 you would find that the comfort of a 

 stretcher was very much greater than 

 any other way; and it is the most humane 



way probably of carrying a patient from 

 one ward to another. 



I will now show you a picture of Bellevue 

 Hospital, out on one of the fire escapes, 

 down near one of the wards, and these 

 are children that are out there sunning 

 themselves. People sometimes think it is 

 a terrible thing to go to a hospital, but I 

 don't think those children look very un- 

 happy. They look fairly happy, except 

 this little one. She would, only the sun 

 was shining in her eyes and made her 

 look rather unhappy. But you see the 

 nurses taking care of them, and it is said 

 by those who are in charge that not only 

 the children in Bellevue but in all other 

 hospitals, especially the Hospital for the 

 Ruptured and Crippled, where there is a 

 large number of children, that they never 

 cry but twice. The first time is when 

 they are coming in, because they have to 

 come and don't know what they are 

 coming to, and the second is when they 

 have to leave the hospital and these com- 

 forts and go back to homes where, per- 

 haps, the comforts and the supply of food 

 do not compare with what they get in the 

 hospital. 



We will pass from this to another pic- 

 ture not surrounded by so many com- 

 forts These are cells — the alcoholic 

 cells — where the poor fellows who are 

 overtaken by too much indulgence in 

 strong drink are finally delivered into the 

 hands of the strange tormentors that tor- 

 ment people in that condition, and they 

 are landed down here in cells. You will 

 find them in all sorts of shapes and condi- 

 tions, just getting over attacks of delirium 

 tremens. 



But we must hasten. I want to show 

 how some of the work that is done. This 

 picture brings to mind some of the ad- 

 vancements in surgery during the last 

 few years. Those of you who are living 

 in the last years of this century are living 

 in the greatest 25 years that have ever 



