OBITUARY NOTICES. 
481 
location to be had in the District of Columbia, being, indeed, 
unsurpassed by that of any institution in the country. The 
farm purchased contained 195 acres, was three miles south¬ 
east of the Capitol, and in full view of the city. On this 
land, with a frontage of half a mile on the Eastern branch 
of the Potomac river and having a good river landing, Doc¬ 
tor Nichols may be said to have erected everything needed 
for the institution. Here the brick were molded and burnt, 
the clay being taken from the excavations for the basements 
of the several wings of the institution. The hospital is con¬ 
structed on the echelon plan, adopted by the Doctor, and 
was erected under his own immediate personal supervision. 
It was completed and furnished within the appropriation, 
and patients were received into it in 1853. 
The gradually but steadily increasing number of patients 
to be cared for required within Doctor Nichols’ time three 
several enlargements of the buildings, and the grounds 
were added to by purchases until they reached 420 acres, to 
meet the requirements of the stock, give pasture and range 
to the milch cattle, and furnish fresh garden vegetables to 
the institution. 
This hospital, from its pleasing architecture, its ample 
wards, rooms, and corridors, and especially its superior 
ventilation, heating, and hygienic plumbing and sewerage 
service, has ever since its erection, with slight repairs, stood 
at the very head of the best hospital structures in all essen¬ 
tial particulars and has been extensively modeled after by 
the several States and by some foreign countries. 
“ St. Elizabeth,” the home name of the Government Hos¬ 
pital for the Insane (a name given in the original land patent 
and survey from the State of Maryland) stands today a grand 
and enduring monument to the sound judgment and large 
heart of Dr. Charles Henry Nichols. He has left the im¬ 
press of his genius everywhere upon the property of the 
hospital, its grounds, its roads, its walks, as well as upon 
and throughout the buildings. The broad avenue which 
leads up to the institute bears his name, and at the back of 
63—Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash.. Vol. 12. 
