1/93] ^^V- iVILLJAM SMITH, D. D. 369 



aid that the cases of the sick require, that the citizens be again con- 

 vened, that some effectual means may be adopted to mitigate and, if 

 possible, to afford relief to the afflicted. 



Upon motion. Resolved, That the secretary be directed to publish the 

 foregoing minute, and to request the citizens to attend a meeting at the 

 City Hall on the 14th instant, at 12 o'clock; and that, in the mean- 

 time, Israel Israel, Thomas Wistar and Caleb Lownes be requested to 

 confer with the physicians appointed to the care of the sick, at Bush- 

 Hill, obtain information of their situation, and furnish the necessary 

 aid and relief in their power to afford. 



Caleb Lownes. 



In pursuance to this call, another meeting was held. On this 

 occasion it was reported that the hospital was without order or 

 supervision, that several superintendents and nurses were needed 

 there, that a sum of money ought instantly to be procured to aid 

 in obtaining necessaries for the sick, and that a large committee 

 ought to be appointed from the city, Northern Liberties and 

 Southwark, to aid the sick and distressed. Fifteen hundred dol- 

 lars were ordered to be borrowed, if possible, from the Bank of 

 North America, and a committee was appointed to transact the 

 whole of the business relative to succoring the sick, providing 

 physicians, nurses, etc. 



Our honored city of Philadelphia, then the metropolis of the 

 nation, and where the President and Congress were so lately 

 assembled in power, became suddenly a terror and a by-word to 

 the people. Its sister cities were taking every precaution to pre- 

 vent the entrance within their limits of any one from Philadelphia, 

 and to eject such an one if in anyway he came within them. The 

 following proclamation from the then mayor of New York will 

 illustrate the state of things : 



By the Mayor of the City of New York. 



To THE Practising Physicians of the said City : 



New York, Sept. 11, 1793. 



Gentlemen : Great apprehensions are entertained by many of our 

 fellow-citizens that, notwithstanding every prudent and legal precaution, 

 the contagion of that distressing infectious disorder which now carries 

 off many of the citizens of Philadelphia, may be brought into this city, 

 by means of the open intercourse between the two cities, which cannot 

 lawfully be interrupted by any power in this State. You are therefore 

 hereby notified that the corporation of this city have taken measures-tO' 

 24 



