18o0r.] 
extent of their legality {n the difcharge of 
debts ;—that is, whether thefe notes, of 
what value and amount foever they be, 
are as lecal a tender for the payment of 
money, and the fatisfaction of any pecu- 
niary demand, as is the*current coin of 
the kingdom? If any of your Readers will 
fully explain the above, it will be of much 
fervice to many individuals who are in 
doubt on this point. Yours, &c, 
ee EI 
A sxeteu of the prefent state of fome 
of the PUBLIC HOSPITALS afd INFLR- 
MARIES iz Panis, and particularly of 
the HOSPICE DE LA MATERNITE.* 
WAHE hofpitals asd poor-houfes in 
T Paris are all fupported and con- 
ducted exclufively by the Government. 
Individuals in that country are no more 
difpofed to promote fuch undertakings, 
than government is to encourage them, 
and the public {pirit of the inhabitants of 
this metropolis is generally diverted to 
other objects. 
We do not fee here, as in England, 
private perfons making private interetts 
concur in promoting the general good, and 
eftablifhing, in the mid& of a large com- 
munity, a multitude of {mall independent 
inftitutions, in which all obey, although 
no individual commands; and where no 
one rifes againit ‘the eftablifhed rules and 
cuftoms, but to oppofe abufes which 
time and experience may have brought to 
light. " 
As I had. heard much of the fhameful 
ftate into which the public charities of 
France were fallen, I took advantage of 
the opportunity which I had iaft autumn 
of vifiting them; but I muft confefs, that, 
notwithftanding all their defects, I found 
them much fuperior to what I had heard 
them defcribed. It is true thar within 
thefe two or three years government has 
at length been induced to beftow moreipar- 
ticular attention on them, and feveral ufe~- 
ful reforms have been begun. 
In general, the hofpitals of Paris are 
extenfive, and appear to me to be con- 
ftructed on good principles. The fick and 
infirm poor, who are theobjects of thele 
charities, neither fuffer from hunger, cold, 
or want of air; and cleanlinefs is by no 
- * This valuable and authentic account was 
communicated to us by a phyfician, eftablifth- 
ed ‘in London, who had an’ opportunity 
laft fummer of being an eye-witnefs to all 
that is mentioned in this report. 
@ EDrtog. 
 Hofpitals of Paris. 
3Ir 
means fo much neglected as T had imagin- 
ed. But if a gavernment has fome ad- 
vantages over a fociety of individuals in 
regard to the choice of fituation, the ex-. 
tent of the edifice, and the magnitude of 
the undertaking, it is in the detail that 
the adminiftration of a private fociety 
chiefly difcovers its fuperiority. The in- 
terior economy of the infirmarie of Paris 
appears to me as.defective as that of the 
hofpitals of London is wife and judicious ; 
and the medical treatment in France is the 
part which is by far the molt neglected. 
But I was the lefs furprized at it when ~ 
I found that (independent of the French 
being really much behind us in the’ fcience 
of medicine) hofpital-practice reflects no 
honour whagever on the phyficians engaged 
in it, and it becomes an object of ambition 
merely for the immediate emoltument which 
it produces. Indeed, as the patients have 
not, as in this country, to return thanks 
in perfon to individuals for the benefit which 
they have received, this benefit remains al- 
moft always unknown; anda houfe of cha- 
rity is generally confidered as the abode of 
diftrefs, rather than as an jafylum where 
the fufferer receives the afiiftance which hu- 
manity can beftow. The natural refult 
is, that the phyfician grows difcouraged, 
and, far from confidering himfelf as ho- 
noured by the tafk which he has under~ 
taken, he is almoft apprehenfive of its be- 
coming a reproach, and that his name 
thould be affociated with ideas of difgutt 
and mifery, rather than with thofle of re- 
lief and beneficence. 
They reckon in Paris about 17,500 dif- 
treffed perfons difperfed in nineteen hofpi- 
tals ; and reckoning three others, which, 
although connected with the town, do not 
fpecially belong to it, a total number of 
twenty thoufand fick and infirm receiving 
this mode of relief may be reckoned in the 
capital. It is faid that the whole annual 
expence of thefe» hofpitals of government 
does not exceed fix millions ewres Tour- 
mois (about 2 50,0001. fterling); but this is 
probably a very vague calculation. 
Among thete eftablifhments there are a 
few that have been celebrated for a length 
of time, either for their immediate utility, 
or for the philofophic fpirit to which they 
owe their birth. Such are the intitu- 
tions, for the education of the deaf and 
dumb ( Sourds muets) and for the induf- 
trious blind ( Aveugles travailleurs). With- 
in thefe few years another ettablithment 
has been inftituted, called the Hofpice de 
la Maternité, which, though not intimate 
ly conneéted with philofopnic views, ap- 
peared to me to offer feveral ideas eqnally 
° novel 
