INFIRMARY. 



125 





The difficulty of managing all these complicated con- 

 cerns, and the great labour which is, in most instances, 

 S bestowed on them, ought to be duly appreciated before 

 an y complaints are uttered against the imperfection* of 

 infirmaries. Nothing is more hurtful to society than 

 the censorious spirit which conceives itself authorised 

 to mutter and frown on every occasion on which a co- 

 lour appears, on a superficial glance, for pronouncing 

 the words injustice, partiality, negligence, or others 

 still more indignant. This spirit of complaint is fos- 

 tered only among persons who do not bestir themselves 

 for active good. Those who are experienced in such 

 affairs, are sensible of the difficulty both of executing 

 justice and humanity ; and, while they do not withhold 

 their strictures on such imperfections ss appear, bring 

 them forward in the true spirit of social benignity, and 

 thus contribute to improvement, without generating 



any respects, infir 



ate additional com. 



arWag 



icrifnurit*. 



ement to ne- 





forts, and cherish additional virtues among those who 

 fall under their protection. It not onfreauently hap- 

 pens, that by bringing individuals into tne notice of 

 the friends -of humanity, they have proved the means 

 of accomplishing the moral reformation of the vicious, 

 and on other occasions, providing e 



who are able to work 

 in the lighter domsstic 

 i ***vfa; them is that 

 s lint from old linen. They thus 

 which may afterwards pro* 

 fd enable t^Tfl to ad- 

 in private life. 



i- pr.ni li-il 1:1 i:> 





Impcott- 



of providing it, is too 

 private life, and is inconveni- 

 m decent circumstances, vis. the 

 , especially the latter. 



ways ready in an infirmary, it is exhibited at 

 tiroes wh : ch are most suitable to the patient, or at such 

 regular periods of the day, that the one preparation of 

 the patient for it is always well timed. Thus it is not 

 lendeied abortive by the intervening of sleep, or of a 

 of symptoms. 



the more bumble members of the community 

 . direct relief from infirmaries, thess institutions 

 *** " prove beneficial to society at large, by the singular ad- 

 vantages which they present for the improvement of 

 medicil knowledge. Within a small compass, much 

 more practice can be seen by a medical pupil, than by 

 gemg round among the dwelling-houses of patients. 

 Thus a larger portion of his time may be devoted to 

 and other studies. With all the trouble and 



*->J -- , i , ,i Tl I I f^m *-' 

 iropemmeemr mm 



to see the same laiieti in piivate piatlHe as at an in* 

 firmary. He not only sees those who are under the 

 care of the phyekiaii or surgeon whom he follows: 

 every eitraordluaiy case within the walls 

 quickly talked of ; and ft* 

 taneonsly strike the eye. 



promote one another. A practitioner who treats his Inflrniar>. 

 patients in so public a manner, and lays himself under ^"""Y"^* 

 the pledge of explaining his reasons for every thing 

 that he does, and for every omission, solicits new mo* 

 tives for the excitement of his diligence, and declines 

 to screen his errors under those ambiguous pretexts for 

 which private practice furnishes so ready opportuni- 

 ties. The opening of the bodies of deceased patients Opening of 

 is another advantage of the utmost importance in the ' 

 conducting of infirmaries. This practice has often fur- 

 nished onetopic ofunjustclamour. Dissections have been 

 held up to the horror of the public, and have been mis- 

 chievously represented as the ultimate object of the me- 

 dical attendants of infirmaries. This is highly absurd. 

 In infirmaries, as in private life, no inspections of bodies 

 are made without the consent of the friends of the de- 

 ceased, if he has any ; and none are made different from 

 those which a rational man would invite to be perform- 

 ed in his own family. When this is the case, no rea- 

 son can exist that should prevent the performance of 

 this sacred duty to the living. It is not for the person- 

 al gratification of the medical profession ; it is for their 

 instruction and usefulness in society that dissections 

 are intended. The barbarous prejudices which existed 

 against them among the ancients, retarded the progress 

 of medicine, and kept it in a state of comparative ineffi- 

 ciency for many ages. Where such prejudices still 

 prevail, let them be submitted to. Let medical know. 

 ledge continue obscure and stationary, if it cannot be 

 improved without shocking the delicacy, or rousing the 

 asflignetion of an ignorant age. Hut let those who are 

 superior to this fastidiousness, use their endeavours to 

 open the eyes of others, and, in a particular manner, by 

 holding forth the enlightened examples of fathers, in 

 the midst of their parental sorrow, examining with their 

 own eyes and hands the bodies of the children whom 

 they have lost. The illustrious Haller, while he com- 

 memorates the excellencies of a deceased son, adds, as 

 a circumstance of course, that be gave his body to be 



The seven general hospitals of the metropolis, viz. stem of 

 8t Bartholomew's. St. Thomas', Guy's, the London, > " M 

 the Westminster, St. George's, and the Middlesex, con- "*** 

 tain constantly about 1600 persons, and the annual 

 number admitted is about 20,000. 



We shall in this article take some notice of the sue. Oilier me. 

 cedaneoui means which have served to complete the ob- <l - ic - 1 ch "'- 

 jects for which infirmaries are instituted. * "*$* 



It is for the relief of strangers and persons who have 

 no permanent home that their utility is most highly con- &rner l ob - 

 In a large metropolis, numbers of labourers * 



spcuous. 

 and artisa 



ho h 



spon- 

 The establishment of cfini- 



ra) lectures on the meeun of the patients, gives that 

 eiiuelmisu to the knowledge of the student, which can 

 only be obtained by a perfect oembanation of the theory 

 with the practice, and of the ^detail of practical pre- 

 cppt*. with tffc-f sctUeU cxcnyptnK>t)on of tnc Hwtorr of 



> ot th- p.n'irn!" irr r -.ic nri. .<! t.. tt,r objift of 



On the contrary, they 



*1 thither for employment, 

 nts, which they cannot 

 them of their earning!). 

 Strangers, also, who come from a distance for a tempo- 

 rary purpose, occasionally fall sick. Such are the poor 

 Highlanders who annually migrate to the south of 

 Scotland to assist hi the harvest. Many of these obtain, 

 in their casual sickness, a cure and an asylum at the 

 Infirmary of Edinburgh, and are justly enumerated 

 among the meet interesting objects of public sympa- 

 thy. 



Yet it is not to strangers alone that these institut 

 are adapted. Many persons who are domesticated in 

 the places where infirmaries are situated fall into -ick- 

 ness so overwhelming, that they require more care 

 than then- relations at home can bestow on them. Thus 

 the family is not only deprived of the fruits of the in- 

 dustry of a member who has fallen Mck, but is forced 



