124 



INFIRMARY. 



Infirmary, them of the liberty of showing it, and the nurse of the 

 r^ opportunity of receiving a slender reward for superior 

 attention. But it is necessary to suppress such a prac- 

 tice, otherwise it infallibly leads to a system of exaction 

 which amounts to a robbery of the poor. The only 

 way in which such practices could be at all tolerated, 

 would be by prohibiting them while the patients are 

 in the house, and conniving at expressions of their gra- 

 titude, which are made after the lapse of some days or 

 weeks. Even this would not be safe, nor probably any 

 tiling short of a positive suppression of such perquisites, 

 especially when we consider that the same patients may 

 be liable to return. 



Advantage* A system of inspection and explanation does not 

 of explain- merely secure the conducting of the charities on correct 

 principles, but produces a most beneficial effect, by sa- 

 tisfying the minds of all concerned. Hence each pa- 

 tient is required to read an enumeration of the advan- 

 tages of attendance which he may expect, and a state- 

 ment of the behaviour required of him. A table of his 

 diet is also shewn to him. This is a subject on which 

 abuses might creep in. It is also one, on which hurt- 

 ful mistakes, and unjust complaints, are liable to occur. 

 Persons from a distant place, differing in its customs from 

 that in which they are admitted into in an infirmary, 

 are sometimes apt to find fault with the provisions, and 

 their complaints will always be more or less soothed, 

 when they are informed of the usages of the country. 

 Poor persons from the south of England find fault with 

 the colour of their bread in the northern hospitals, 

 though fully as wholesome as their own. When the 

 reason of the difference is pointed out, they may de- 

 spise the customs of the place, but they cease to har- 

 bour the idea that they are defrauded of a right. In 

 all public matters, systematic explanations compose the 

 public mind, and produce a charming alteration on the 

 moral aspect of society. It is better to cure jealousy 

 by intelligence, than to suppress it by inculcating blind 

 confidence. 



Unfcvour- Public charities are in some particulars apt to ope- 



able mental rate unfavourably on the moral feelings of those who 



influence to are relieved. We have already stated the encourage. 



obviated. ment of i n d o l ence as one o f t}j ese> j, ut one f rom wn ich 



infirmaries are exempt. Another is a tendency to gene- 

 rate a depressing sense of dependenee. Some attempt 

 to remove this, by teaching the patients to look on such 

 relief as a right rather than a favour, a notion, which 

 is considered as keeping erect the dignity of an inde- 

 pendent mind. Some delicate distinctions, however, 

 are here requisite for moral practice. Such relief must 

 not be considered as a right of the same indefeasible kind, 

 as those advantages that are obtained by a man at his 

 own expence. The duties of charity are of such a nature, 

 that their limits and appropriate occasions do not admit 

 of being easily defined. They require much reflection 

 and care in the performance, and the neglect of them 

 is more excusable than an act of common injustice. 

 This ought never to be forgotten, otherwise the person 

 who receives charity cherishes unreasonable expecta- 

 tions. While the poor man applies for the relief pro- 

 vided by public institutions with a mind sensible of 

 his claims, he must be taught to recognize the spirit of 

 active benevolence in others, without which his wants 

 could not be supplied. If he does not, his independ- 

 ence degenerates into pertness, ingratitude, and clamour. 

 When matters are thus cautiously and modestly con- 

 ducted, the moral feelings both of rich and poor are im- 

 proved. The rich find that they are relieving persons 

 in whose situation they may aftwards, by the reverses 



4 



of human affairs, be placed; thus their deeds of charity Infirmary- 

 remind them of the lot of mortality. Humbling in- '^ "V"' 

 stances of such reverses frequently fall under the obser- 

 vation of those who visit infirmaries. yThey are also 

 made to reflect, that no man is absolutely independent. 

 The rich depend on the poor as well as the poor on 

 the rich, and they feel that their deeds of charity are 

 only acts of justice, though they derive in the eyes of 

 others a merit from being voluntarily and cheerfully 

 performed. 



For the sake of preventing any unnecessary mortifi- Occasional 

 cation that might occur, as well as dispensing bounty in payment of 

 a more equitable manner, some descriptions of patients * sm ? 11 

 are required to make a payment in the name of board. 

 In some cases of this kind, a difference has been made 

 in the diet. This is perhaps injudicious. The diet of 

 all ought to be wholesome, and the only differences 

 allowed should be those that are rendered proper by 

 the state of the complaint. Any other distinction has a 

 tendency to mortify the more helpless of the patients, 

 unless they are completely separated. 



Moral disadvantages are apt to arise from the mixture Morals. 

 of opposite characters. The virtuous are shocked and 

 made unhappy by the profligacy of the vicious, and may 

 afterwards be disposed to dissuade others from entering 

 such houses; while the young, whose habits are not yet 

 confirmed, are in danger of being corrupted by bad com- 

 pany. These evils are most apt to appear, where ve- 

 nereal patients are accommodated promiscuously with 

 others. Accordingly this has been in a great mea- 

 sure corrected, by assigning to such persons distinct 

 wards, and prohibiting all intercourse between them and 

 others, or erecting separate institutions for their ac- 

 commodation ; such as that highly beneficent charity, 

 the Lock Hospital in London, which holds forth to the 

 diseased children of vice, both medicine and the sedu- 

 lously employed means of reformation. Want of cor- 

 rectness is in other instances kept down by a system of 

 domestic superintendence. A person of respectable 

 character and manners, capable of exercising due au- 

 thority, is selected for a matron, or house governor. 

 This is particularly necessary, and sometimes requires 

 great delicacy, when any of the resident medical officers 

 are pupils, and young men addicted to pleasure, who 

 require control for the prevention of abuses. 



These charities are occasionally liable to be pervert- improper 

 ed by the persons who apply for relief. They are applications 

 sometimes abused by daring impostors, who apply un- f r charity. 

 der the guise of distress so artfully assumed as to es- 

 cape detection. This is not unfrequently done, for the 

 mere purpose of obtaining temporary support. Hence 

 the necessity of the utmost circumspection in examining 

 the symptoms of the patient, and, where these are am- 

 biguous, practising a well-directed policy for subject- 

 ing them to a full probation. Suspicions on this head 

 authorise a practitioner to abridge for a day or two, the 

 comforts of such individuals, a measure to which a 

 sick man will submit, as intended for his recovery, 

 while a conscious impostor will make his escape as 

 soon as possible. 



The strictest regulations are always practised for pre- Irregulari- 

 venting the patients or their friends from bringing into ''<* 

 an infirmary any provisions or articles of comfort, ex- 

 cept such as are submitted to inspection, and for total- 

 ly prohibiting the introduction of spiritous liquors. 

 Habits of sobriety, thoughtfulness, and religion, also 

 receive the usual encouragements, by the appointment 

 of spiritual overseers, and the regular maintenance o 

 religious worship. 



