OUR NEW SKIN AND CANCER HOSPITAL. 95 



is very large and appears to be increasing ; at least 15,000 new cases 

 of skin-disease occur in this city yearly among the poor, while there 

 is no proper hospital accommodation for their care. In the matter of 

 cancer the needs of the city are still more painfully evident. The 

 malady is reported by the registrar-general to be on the increase in 

 Great Britain, and the mortal it v from it has increased in New York 

 of late years, according to the returns of the Board of Health, as may 

 be seen from the following figures : 



"In 1869 there were 304 deaths from cancer, being a little over 

 one per hundred of deaths from all causes. In 1879 there were 572 

 deaths from cancer in this city, or a little over two per hundred of all 

 deaths : that is, in ten years the proportion of deaths from cancer had 

 nearly doubled, one death out of every fifty being from this dreadful 

 disease. In 1880 there were 659 deaths from cancer, or 2-06 per cent 

 of all deaths in this city ; in this latter year cancer actually caused 

 more deaths than scarlet fever, this being a very light year, with 618 

 deaths from this latter disease. In 1882 the mortality-tables showed 

 731 deaths from cancer in this city, or more than two daily. During 

 these fourteen years 6,843 persons died of cancer in New York city. 

 Patients suffering from cancer are welcomed in no hospital ; in most 

 institutions they are absolutely refused, and nowhere in this country 

 are cancer cases grouped together with a view of studying the disease 

 as to its nature and cure." 



These painful facts show the urgency there was to take some seri- 

 ous steps toward the alleviation of this vast amount of suffering, and 

 the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital has been established for this 

 purpose. The institution was incorporated in 1882, and a dwelling- 

 house was secured in 1883 at No. 243 East Thirty-fourth Street, where 

 patients have been received and treated for the past year. The ac- 

 commodations are, however, very limited, and so wholly insufiicient 

 that vigorous measures are now being taken for the extension of its 

 operations until they shall become adequate to meet the public wants. 

 Not only could but few patients be received, as the hospital now con- 

 tains but twenty-nine beds, but serious difficulty has been encountered 

 from the application of numerous cases of cancer for which the accom- 

 tQodations were wholly unsuitable. Some of these were in such ad- 

 vanced stages that their admission would have resulted in polluting 

 the atmosphere to such a degree that the other beds could not be occu- 

 pied. This experience has forced the managers to enter ujDon an 

 enlarged plan of operations by which all patients, in whatever stage 

 or condition of disease, may be taken for treatment without detriment 

 to others. 



A question may obviously arise as to the propriety of associating 

 cancerous with skin diseases in the same institution ; but the authori- 

 ties of the hospital are well convinced that great advantages will ensue 

 from this combination, and they have given the reasons for it in an 



