INFIRMARY. 



127 





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IX. Instances occur of blindness in person/ remote 

 from tlu ir parislies and friend*, in which the distress 



be greatly alleviated by proper assistance at their 

 departure. 



X. Cases of rapture frequently occur, from sudden 

 causes, requiring triitse*." 



After these observation*, they give their opinion, that 

 such objects will be best fulfilled, by a supplementary 



ition of this kind attached to each hospital. 

 Thi* society was now regularly organized, and pro- 

 ved extremely beneficial, as appeared by their report in 



in which it wa* observed, that they had extended 

 their benefits to a great number of instance* of distress, 

 comprehending nearly all the case* enumerated in their 

 fir*t address, and found that much evil might be pre- 

 vented, and much go d done, at little exprnce, by help 

 thus seasonably supplied. They were then enabled 

 from experience to recommend, in the strongest terms, 

 the formation of other societies on a similar plan. One 

 other has at least been formed, which is attached to 

 SL George's Hospital. 



tier the denomination of infirmaries, we shall 

 also notice institutions which embrace only one im- 

 portant department of the same general object. 1'he 

 moat conspicuous place is due to those intended for the 

 treatment of contagious fevers, and which have been 

 called Fever Hospital*, or Houses of Recovery. These 

 accomplish end* of jR-culiarly extensive utility at com- 

 , ncr. The objects whom they pa- 



tronize are generally in the mo-t deplorable state, and 

 are relieved a* speedily a* the nature of their case* will 

 admit. The attendance required, which would exhaust 

 the strength and the mean* of support of their domestic 

 irienib, i* given gratuitously in the beat possible man- 

 ner; and the spreading of infection through the rest of 

 the family, and it* calamitous diffusion through a popu- 

 lous nasgnoouf noon, are prevented* 



In consequence of the investigations ait* by Dr. 

 Haygarth of Chester, and other eminent physicians, 



lie laws of the contagion of various fevers, espe- 

 cially tynhu* and scarlatina, it was found that the dis- 

 semination of these disease* depended chiefly on defi- 

 cient ventilation, and on the promiscuous contact of the 

 healthy with the sick, through the medium of clothes 

 and various other solid substance*, which i* always 

 moat apt to happen where cieanlmea* i* neglected, and 

 that, when measures are taken to prevent such commu- 

 nication, the infection lose* it* virulence by dilution 



K .-..... 

 mnt at 



M 



. 



: .. 



The first house of recovery wa* fitaMiifccd at Man- 

 chester. In that populou* town, a large proportion of 



thr working < !.! ln- in tunlini-l .. li ii k -.. an .1.- 

 venly in their domestic habits, and in their moral- dis- 

 olute and intemperate. Fevers, whan once intro- 

 duced, need to spread rapidly from house to house, 

 and from one neighbourhood to another, till the (ami. 

 lie* even of the wealthier rank* were ultimately as- 

 Occurrence* of this ort. from their great fre- 

 wral alarm, and, when the 



phy;cian* sfcetcned a plan for the snppreasion of lhr*r 

 their rrprfaentatiuaja met with a ready attention 

 the public spirited inhabitants. 



In the year i;y.i. a fever prevailed at Ashton-under- 

 whsch had been introduced by a patient tr, :., 

 Manchester. On that occasion, a temporary institu- 

 tion, on the plan of a fever hospital, wa* farmed at 

 Ashton. Thi* example animated the inhabitant* of 

 Manchester in the same cau>e. A plan wa* dra* 



1 .-. Firriar,. containing hi* matured view* of this 



subject, which he had attentively studied, and in which Infirmary. 

 his zeal was deeply engaged. He pointed out the fol- S "~"Y"~ I 

 lowing fertile sources of fever among the poor: 1. 

 Crowded lodging-houses; 2. Dwellings in cellar stories, 

 which were damp and ill ventilated; and, 3. Cotton mills, 

 which were kept close, wann, and crowded with peo- 

 ple. The advantages he pointed out that would arise 

 from a house of recovery, were, That air and conve- 

 nience would be better consulted, proper nurses would 

 be provided, and the spreading of the infection ar- 

 rested. This measure was not at first readily acqui- 

 esced in by all. It was conceived that the bringing 

 of many infected- persons under one roof would ren- 

 der that place a focus of contagion, which, in any po- 

 pulous quarter of the town, would be pregnant with 

 danger. That prejudice, however, was in a short time 

 removed. The point of doctrine which had been pre- 

 viously ascertained by the learned, was gradually im- 

 pressed on others by experience, that, when several 

 persons are brought together in a well ventilated place, 

 the effluvia emanating from cat-' patient, instead of unit- 

 ing with those from others, are dissipated by the qualities 

 of the air, and by the means employed, whereas in ill 

 ventilated private dwellings, the bad air, in which the 

 people habitually live, cherishes and rapidly dissemi- 

 nate* the contagion generated by a single case. In 

 the propofed int!t>itiun. the attention, and the whole 

 conduct of the nurses, were to be placed under the best 

 inspection. The access of unnecessary visitors was to 

 lx- prohibited, and the vUitsof near rcl,itic>n< prevented 

 from Iwcotning danirerou*, by the enforcement of pre- 

 cautionary regulation- in the mode of their intercourse 

 with t' The clothes of the patients were to be 



stripped otT as soon as they were brought into the hourc, 

 put immediately into water, and afterwards well pun- 

 ned. The patients, while under trentroent, were to 

 wear clothes belonging to the institution, and dismissed 

 in their own clothe., no in a clean state. 



The patron* nf this institution formed themselves in- Bo rd ' 

 to a Boar of Health, which witched oxer the sources ll *" llh ' 

 of infection, and encouraged the people to give them 

 the earliest information of every appearance of fever. 

 This board alo artivrlv propagated all that informa- 

 tion requisite for proti general health, which 

 was derived from the mot enlightened sources. 



The patron* of the Manchester Infirmary co-opera- 

 ted cordially with thr H. .in) of Health. I 'oor persons 

 under fever hud been formerly attended at their own 

 house* by the phyicians ot that munificent charity ; 

 and a facility wa* thus afforded to the object in view, 

 a* these gentlemen, who were the best judges of the 

 case, were to be authorised to send such patients to the 

 Home of Recovery The means of conveyance were 

 provided, all nnecessary delay was thus prevented, and 

 order* were even given, when it tt a- thought proper, 

 to have the house* from which the patients were taken, 

 white-washed and thoroughly purilinl. 



In I'.tjli, the House ol Recovery of Manchester wa* 

 on these principle fir>t r-t.ibli-lied at a time whni 

 ver* were exlmntly prevalent, ami the number* of fe- 

 brile patient*, attended by the physicians of the infir- 

 mary, were on the increase. In a few weeks, these 

 began to be diminished, and the average number of 

 fevers in that town has continued ever Miur to be 

 much smaller than formerly. In the firt ye.ir, they 

 were reduced to 57, having been 886 in the year pre- 

 ceding ; and, of these 57, several were brought from 

 the suburbs, the fevers of which, in the preceding ) ear, 

 were nut included in the 226. 



