234 



THE IRRIGATION AGK. 



the venerable Hospital of Santo 

 Spirito. This institution was 

 founded in 1198 by Innocent III and 

 affords accommodations for 1600 

 patients of every variety of disease. 

 Upwards of 3000 foundlings pass 

 through the hospital annually. 

 When a person wishes to leave an 

 infant in the hospital she rings the 

 doorbell, when a little bed is turned 

 toward the grille near the door and 

 in it the child is deposited. 



Just now the wards are greatly 

 crowded to accommodate the epi- 

 demic of la grippe which is now in 

 Rome. Fortunately there are no 

 serious complications to the influ- 

 enza this year. 



The wards of the hospital are 

 enormous, accommodating seventy 

 five to one hundred beds. The 

 ceiling is no less than thirty feet 

 high and the row of small windows 

 which constitute the only ventila- 

 tion are at least twenty feet above 

 the beds. The result is that the 

 ventilation is always inadequate, 

 the room frightfully warm in sum- 

 mer, while in winter the three small 

 ovens between the rows of beds 

 utterly fail to provide the sufficient 

 heat. Even at this time when the 

 spring is far advanced the attend- 

 ing physicians make their rounds 

 with hats and overcoats on. 



True to the artistic spirit of the 

 past ages frescoes by the old mas- 

 ters adorn the walls. This old 

 building is soon to give way to one 

 of the finest hospital buildings in 

 the world. It was of interest to 

 learn that in all medical institutions 

 of Italy, Gynecology as a distinct 

 and separate science is not recog- 

 nized. All operative gynecology 

 is done by the general surgeon 



while the obstetrician claims the 

 field of the so styled medical gyne- 

 cology. 



ti <-nt OIK- as a I Z i- nl Hi Resort. 



The exceptional situation of Men- 

 tone, France, and its pre-eminently 

 privileged climate has long at- 

 tracted the attention of medical 

 men. Nowhere has the writer seen 

 such a charming spot that at the 

 same time affords such advantages 

 as a health resort. Situated upon 

 the Southern shores of France and 

 surrounded by a girdle of pictur 

 esque mountains rising 4,800 feet 

 above the level of the Mediteranean 

 Sea, the temperature becomes the- 

 most equable of France. The aver- 

 age temperature in winter is 49.2 

 F. ; in spring 59.5 F..; in summer 

 74.4 F.; in autumn 62.2 F., and 

 the annual mean temperature 

 61.3 F. 



The physicians of Italy, Ger- 

 many, France and England have 

 long appreciated the superior ad- 

 vantages of Mentone as a health re- 

 sort, but as yet the American physi- 

 cian has little appreciated it. Re- 

 posing in the shelter of an im- 

 mense amphitheatre of rocks, the 

 town of Mentone, thus shielded 

 from the cold North and West 

 winds, lies stretched out on the 

 shore, fully exposed to the sun's 

 caresses, like a lizard nestling at 

 the foot of a wall, and sleepily en- 

 joying the ardent heat. 



Stretching out below in its azure 

 smoothness, is the "Bay of Peace," 

 as the Romans called it- 

 Here the olive trees attain their 

 perfection. Their gnarled and 

 twisted branches form one vast 

 bower encircling and sheltering,the' 



