USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 36
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the creation of a new faculty of medicine consolidating the Medical, Dental and Veterinary schools. The advance called for a new set of buildings, one capable of expansion until it could be made the most com- prehensive medical establishment in the world. Through the gifts, total- ing millions of dollars, the present set of structures lying between Long- wood Avenue and Francis Street were made possible. Since the history of the Harvard Medical Schools has been given in the chapter on Educa- tion, no further comment need be made here.
Other Medical Schools-The Boston University School of Medicine was founded in 1874 as a homeopathic institution. The next year the New England Female Medical College was added to this school. Its location on East Concord Street, adjoining the Homeopathic Hospital, enables its students to have access to observation and clinical work in the hospital.
The Tufts College School of Medicine, with the Dental School of that same college occupy convenient buildings in the city, and afford oppor- tunity for medical instruction, requiring slightly different preparation than that insisted upon at Harvard. The medical school was established in 1893 for the training of general practitioners. Starting with a faculty that numbered in it some of the most brilliant of Boston's physicians and surgeons, the school has been eminently successful in its work. Although specialization has not been its aim, special attention has been given to such subjects as pathology, psychopathy and therapeutics.
The Tufts College Dental School is said to be the largest in the United States and the third in point of establishment. Founded in 1868, as the Boston Dental College, with the stated purpose "the advancement of the dental art and instruction," it has moved along steadily towards its present leadership. Its library and museum date but little later than the time of its founding; there is an infirmary in connection with the school where free treatment is given the poor. When the Tufts School of Medicine was organized in 1893, the Dental School was associated with it to the benefit of both.
When Oliver Wendell Holmes gave his list of the medical institutions of Boston he did it with a pride that was justified in the many and great hospitals, dispensaries, asylums, sanatoriums and the like that were then in the city. Two of those he noted as the leaders among the medical charities still retain their leadership, but others the existence of which was not then even imagined, have come to the fore. Where, in his time, there were thirty odd institutions, there are now more than a hundred and thirty, many of which are laid out along lines which are the concep- tions only of the last two decades. The larger number of these institu- tions are public, or practically public, in character and established as
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charities. Even those that are quasi-public often have heavy endow- ments, and are dependent upon philanthropy for their continuance. It is surprising how much wealth has been invested in the charitable medical establishments of Boston. The city and the State, of course, also sup- port many.
Medical Institutions of the City-These institutions are spread all over the city, many being located in the outer sections such as Brighton, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury and West Roxbury, Dorchester and Charlestown. Some are grouped, as those gathered around the Harvard Medical School, because of the mutual benefit derived by the concentration. In this one section besides the Harvard Medical and Dental Schools, there are the Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, and the Children's Hospital. Near by are the Peter Bent Brigham hospitals, the Robert Breck Brigham Hos- pital, the Channing Home for Consumptive Women, the Collis P. Hunt- ingdon Memorial Hospital (for cancer patients) the New England Dea- coness' Hospital, the Nursery for Blind Babies, the Vincent Memorial Hospital, the Forsyth Dental Infirmary, and the Tufts College Medical School.
Others that could be mentioned as notable institutions of their kind are: Boston State Hospital (for the insane), Dorchester; Psychopathic department on Fenwood Road; Adams Nervine Asylum, Jamaica Plain ; Walter Baker Sanitarium, Roxbury; Boston Consumptives' Hospital, Mattapan; Boston Floating Hospital (for infants in the summer) ; Car- ney Hospital, South Boston ; Cullis Hospital Home, Blue Hill Avenue; Free Home for Consumptives, Dorchester ; Gordon Home for Incurables and Aged People, Jamaica Plain ; Homeopathic Hospital, Harrison Ave- nue; New England Hospital for Women, Roxbury ; St. Luke's Hospital for Convalescents, Roxbury; St. Margaret's Hospital, Dorchester ; St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Brighton; St. Mary's Hospital, Dorchester ; Salva- tion Army Maternity Hospital; United States Marine and United States Naval hospitals, Chelsea. This list would carry more than ninety names to approach completeness.
Boston Dispensary-Many require more than the giving of a name. Beginning with the oldest in the State still extant, the Boston Dispen- sary, the oldest of its kind in America, was founded in 1796 and incor- porated in 1801. A private organization, it receives no aid from either State or city ; only the long continued generosity of Boston citizens, and the personal sacrifices of its staff of physicians and surgeons make it possible for the Dispensary to provide public service which made it a model of its kind. The first staff consisted of Dr. John Fleet and two apothecaries, Oliver Smith and Thomas Bartlett. The organization now
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consists of 135 physicians and surgeons, 13 graduate nurses, 13 social workers, 8 laboratory and X-ray assistants, 3 dietitians, 3 pharmacists, 18 volunteers, 74 clerical, housekeeping and other employees. These are under the efficient direction of a layman, Frank E. Wing. The ex- penses for the year 1926 totaled $234,000. The city is divided by the Dispensary into nine districts, where patients are treated medically and surgically, and medicines are dispensed. There are three principal feat- ures to the work of the institution that are distinctive to Boston: The district service, the evening clinics, and the health clinic. The district service gives immediate attention to patients at their homes. Eight doc- tors with eight substitutes carry on this work for which the needy pay nothing. In 1925 these physicians made 6,479 visits. The Evening Clinic, held three nights a week, since 1913, renders the service of the specialist to those who cannot come through the day. The Health Clinic, an enterprise in preventive medicine, aids those of small means. A gen- eral and special examination is given, all by specialists, with laboratory tests of blood and urine. The Dispensary had, in 1927, thirty-two beds for sick children atop the building on Bennet Street, and two wards had been opened recently for adult patients. During 1925 (the last year for which figures are available) the Dispensary helped 30,247; dispensed 46,591 prescriptions ; and the laboratory made 38,307 tests and analyses. As an influence and practical factor for the better health of Boston, its services cannot be justly estimated or shown by figures.
Massachusetts General Hospital-With the exception of the Pennsyl- vania Hospital, the Massachusetts General Hospital is the oldest hospital in America. It owes its existence to Dr. J. C. Warren, the first Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the Harvard Medical School, which was moved to Boston just after the founding of the hospital, and Dr. James Jackson. The two had succeeded in getting together some funds for the enterprise, and the hospital was incorporated February 25, 18II. It was founded in 1799, when a bequest of $5,000 was made for the purpose. During its first year the State gave substantial aid. The Legislature voted to its use the Old Province House property on the condition that $100,000 should be raised within ten years. Later, 1818, the incorpora- tion of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, with the condition that one-third of the net profits should go to the hospital, fur- nished a source of income. In 1835 the New England Mutual Life, and in 1844, the State Mutual Life Assurance of Worcester, were organized under the same conditions. These sources, together with bequests and other gifts, provided an income that gave the institution a fine start; the hospital opening on September 3, 1821. The first building was con- structed of Chelmsford granite, designed by the architect of the new
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State House, Charles Bulfinch, and considered the finest edifice in New England. In 1846 two wings were added. This year was also notable in its history for the first public demonstration of ether as a general anaesthetic.
For all its fine start the hospital, during the first three weeks of its existence, received only one patient, and this not because of any repres- sive restrictions but because only one person applied. Even at the end of a year there were but twelve patients in the wards. Compare this with the 38,938 who were given aid during the year 1925, and we have some measure of the tremendous growth of the institution. Costly as was the original Bulfinch building, the value of the plants of the Massachu- setts General Hospital as given for the year 1925, was $12,012,777. It is to be remembered that the figures quoted for both patients and value include the McLean Hospital at Belmont.
McLean Hospital for the Insane-John McLean, for whom the street leading westerly into the hospital was named, was one of the early bene- factors of the organization. He left $100,000 to the hospital and $50,000 more to be divided between it and Harvard College. The McLean Hos- pital for the Insane was also so titled in his honor. This is beautifully located at Belmont, but from the time of its founding in 1818, to 1895 was situated in Somerville in imposing buildings designed by Charles Bul- finch. The present site in Belmont comprises about two hundred acres, on which are placed the twenty-five or more various structures required by the institution. Known as the McLean Asylum until 1892, the McLean Hospital specializes on and treats all sorts of mental diseases. Since 1882 a training school for nurses to which both men and women are admitted, has been sustained. The charter of this institution and of the General Hospital is the same, and both are under the same control of the same board of trustees. In 1927 this board consisted of : George Wigglesworth, chairman ; Nathaniel T. Kidder, Joseph B. O'Neil, Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer, Thomas B. Gannett, William Endicott, John R. Macomber, Sewall H. Fessenden, Robert Homans, Algernon Coolidge, M. D., Edwin S. Webster, Charles H. W. Foster, treasurer. The hos- pital maintains a Convalescent Home in Waverly, a short distance from the McLean Hospital, which affords an opportunity for the speedy recovery of patients long confined to their beds.
The Boston Plant of the General Hospital-The Boston plant of the General Hospital is open to patients from all parts of the United States and the British Provinces. Infectious, chronic or incurable cases are, as a rule, barred, but for these there are many other institutions. Despite the constant growth of the hospital, despite the great number of donors
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(for the hospital has been dependent upon voluntary gifts since the initial aid given it by the State) the organization has never been able to keep abreast its opportunities and aims. The discovery of a safe anaesthetic was but one of a number of notable series of medical events which has marked the career of the institution. It aims, not only to care for its proportion of the ailing, including the poor, but also to be in the lead in educating the physician, the nurse, the social service worker and the public. It tries to contribute by research to the knowledge and treat- ment of disease, and to share in the progress of preventive medical measures. Its title "General" quite expresses its purposes, as much as any medical organization can be general in this day of specialization. That it is still a growing institution is due not only to the efficient corps which directs its works, but to the generosity, constant and great, of the citizens, principally, of Boston and New England.
Eye and Ear Infirmary-Near the General Hospital in the West End is the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, now more than a century old. It was established in 1824 through the efforts of Dr. Edward Rey- nolds and Dr. John Jeffries to give treatment to those unable to afford it elsewhere. It was incorporated in 1827 as the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary. After several changes in location it was estab- lished in a new building on Charles Street. The ear department, founded in 1871, but not formally organized, was expanded under the direction of Dr. Charles J. Blake. The present building was erected in 1899, and the nurses' home in 1909. While not a part of the Massachusetts General, both institutions are under the direction of Dr. Frederick A. Washburn. Within the century of its active work the infirmary has advanced from a daily treatment of 2 to 395; in 1925, 5,427 were cared for in the wards, and 75,918 out-visits were made. The operating expenses totaled $364,- 382. The infirmary has a remarkable record for its proven usefulness in all phases of its specialties. For its success in the developing of methods in the treatment of cataracts of the eye, in the fight it has made against ophthalmia of the new-born, which is said to be responsible for 30 per cent of all blindness, and in its mastoid surgery, methods in which originated within its walls are copied everywhere, the infirmary is famed throughout our nation. The institution has always been a private enterprise, the State and city contributing nothing to its support. As this is written, the infirmary was making an effort, seemingly destined to be successful, to raise a Centennial Fund of $1,500,000, part of which is to go to pay for the $320,000 building now in the course of erection, the remainder to be used to enable the institution to be of still greater value to the public.
Boston Lying-in Hospital-Another of the older Boston institutions in the neighborhood of the Massachusetts General is the Boston Lying-
THE GREAT MALL, HAYMARKET, AND THEATRE
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in Hospital on McLean Street, which was organized in 1832 for the care of deserving poor women during confinement. After many changes in management and location, the present home was secured, to which an enlargement was made in 1890. In 1881 an out-patient department was established with a branch in the South End. Students from the Harvard Medical School do some of the outside work. In 1889 the hospital opened a training school for nurses. The Lying-in Hospital had (1925) a plant valued at $2,285,952, with yearly expenditures of $122,169, and had given aid to 6,987 during the year.
Other West End Institutions-In this same West End district is the Infants' Hospital, whose full name is the Thomas Morgan Rotch, Jr., Memorial Hospital for Infants. This was incorporated in 1881 and re- ceives in-patients up to two years of age only. In the out-patient depart- ment the children may be up to twelve ; contagious cases are not treated. In connection with the hospital is a nurses post-graduate training school. Each year, after July I, the hospital closes and its work is taken over by the Boston Floating Hospital.
The Boston Floating Hospital is one of the most interesting of Boston's charities. The work started with the efforts of Rev. Rufus B. Tobey in 1894. The boat secured was the second hospital of its kind in this country, and the day trips made down the harbor brought health and life back to many a sick or weak child. A new craft was put into commission in 1903 with accommodations for 200 on the upper deck. The lower deck is given over to the permanent patients. During the summer of 1925 six less than an even eleven hundred small patients were helped by their stay on the Floating Hospital.
Two more neighbors of the Massachusetts General are the Channing Home and the Vincent Memorial Hospital. The Channing Home was founded in 1857 by Miss Harriet Ryan, the late Mrs. John Albee, and the present building opened in 1870. It is a home for incurables, women and girls only, and accommodates without charge about twenty-five. The Vincent Memorial Hospital was incorporated in 1890 in memory of Mrs. J. R. Vincent, a member of the old Boston Museum Company. Women patients only are treated. It has grown into a large institution with property worth more than a quarter of a million dollars. Three hundred and twenty-eight were cared for during the year 1925.
City Hospital-In that rather indefintely defined section known as the South End, is that very important institution called the Boston City Hospital. In the early days the Old South Church was the center of this district, but that building is now in the heart of the business section, and
Met. Bos .- 21
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the South End has been moved so far south as to place it almost wholly on land that did not even exist when the term South End was first used. The City Hospital is built where once was South Bay, and is the center of a densely populated, but not historic part of Boston. The hospital is one of the largest of the city organizations, its plant being valued in 1925 at $5,456,853; the number of employees at this time was 1,001, and the number of patients aided 112,885, ninety per cent of whom were given free treatment. Although but half the age, and naturally less rich in traditions and historic prestige, it has outgrown the Massachusetts Gen- eral, and vies with it in the relief of the sick poor, the promotion of medical education and the increase of knowledge.
An interesting feature in connection with the founding of the insti- tution is that Elisha Goodnow, whose bequest led to its formation, was the second patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital. He under- went an operation at the hand of Dr. Warren, and was so impressed by the skill and kindly care given him that thirty years later he left the bulk of his estate for the founding of a free city hospital. The sum was but $21,000, a large gift for that day however, and was divided, one-half for hospital purposes and the other for the maintenance of free beds. The agitation for the City Hospital started in 1849 during the excitement caused by a cholera epidemic, but it was not established until 1864 under legislation passed in 1858; incorporation was delayed until 1880. The Civil War and its aftermath, the smallpox epidemic in 1872, and the World War, all put tremendous strains upon the hospital which in each case led to special developments. The first led to a doubling of its ca- pacity ; the smallpox demonstrated the need of special buildings for the care of those suffering from contagious diseases. The Smallpox Hospital on Southampton Street was one of the results of the epidemic. This is the institution in which the investigations were carried on in the epi- demic of 1901-02, which resulted in the famous monograph on "Small- pox" by Dr. W. T. Councilman, of the Harvard Medical School.
The continued growth of the City Hospital has called for constantly increased appropriations for its maintenance. In the five years preceding 1898 $1,200,000 was spent on new buildings, the scheme adopted being that of building separate pavilions connected with the central structure. This allowed a greater concentration of patients with a lowering of the cost. Altogether the hospital ranks as one of the greatest and best municipal institutions of its kind in the country. Since first opened in 1864, the city institution had (1920) received in its various departments more than a half million patients; and during this period nearly two million had been given out-patient treatment. The annual cost to the city was, in 1920, $1,239,291. Connected with the hospital is the notable
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Nurses' Home, where is housed the second training school in point of age in the United States. The South Department, although under the same management as the mother organization, is almost a separate hos- pital with its many and large structures given over to contagious dis- eases. It is thought to be the finest contagious hospital in our country. Under the hospital department are also the Convalescent Home, beauti- fully located in ample grounds in Dorchester ; the Haymarket Square Re- lief Station, a model of its kind; the East Boston Relief Station, and the West Department in West Roxbury.
One of the more recent additions to the medical charities of the city of Boston is a hospital for the tubercular at Mattapan. In 1906 a board of trustees was appointed having charge of the expenditure of $514,000 for the purchase of land, buildings and the equipment of such a hospital. Fifty-five acres were secured in Mattapan, where three ward buildings, a number of cottages, as well as other structures were built. Its services since then and particularly since the war, have helped greatly in the fight that is being waged against the "White Plague."
Homeopathic Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine- Returning our attention to the so-called South End, we find there another of the "Big Four" hospitals, the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital and the Boston University School of Medicine, both of which are built on a plot of ground bounded by Stoughton, Albany and East Concord streets. The hospital was incorporated in 1855, but was inactive until 1870 ; it has occupied its present location since 1871. It is a general hos- pital, its wards also being utilized in giving clinical instruction to the students of the Medical School. The movement which led to the found- ing of the institution grew out of an attempted expulsion from the Massa- chusetts Medical Society of eight prominent homeopathic practitioners, opposition to the new school of medicine being then at its height. As with many persecutions, the persecuted came out of the troubles only the stronger. Public interest was aroused, adherents to homeopathy in- creased ; a public fair realized over $80,000 for a hospital. The nucleus of the present large group of buildings was opened in May, 1876; and in 1881 the city conveyed to the institution a large additional tract of land, allowing of further needed expansion. The prejudices of the older day have all but passed away, and in the hospital, physicians of all, or no, schools, work together for the benefit of all. Before additional land had been secured several departments of the hospital had been started or planned, the most of which are in this South End, such as the Maternity Hospital, or Maternity Department on West Newton Street; and the Homeopathic Medical Dispensary of Harrison Avenue, now the Out- Patient Department of the hospital.
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Other South End Hospitals-In this same South End section is the Boston Lying-in Hospital, already mentioned; St. Elizabeth's Hospital, several private institutions and many charitable organizations, homes, day nurseries, settlements and the like. One writer has said of it that the South End was "the most charitied region in Christendom." St. Elizabeth's on Blackstone Square, is under the charge of the Franciscan Sisters. It was founded in 1868, incorporated in 1872, and has been on the present site since 1888. The hospital was originally made up of several remodeled old mansions, being added to as necessity demanded. The entrance house was the former residence of Justin Winsor, for many years librarian of the Harvard College and the Boston Public libraries. To his "Memorial History of Boston" every student of the history of the city is indebted.
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital-When a Bostonian speaks of the "Big Four" hospitals he has reference to the Massachusetts General, the City, the Homeopathic and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and he seldom mentions the latter without sounding out its full title. Since the erection of the Robert Breck Brigham Hospital the two are sometimes referred to as the Brigham Hospitals, and of them the city man is rightly proud. Two Brighams, uncle and nephew, long associated in the hotel business in Boston in which they were highly successful, left their estates in trust for hospital purposes. Peter Bent Brigham, for years a resident of the old West End, left his money to found a hospital for the poor of the city and county; this was in 1883. It was some years before the bequest was used, and by that time it had amounted to nearly five million dollars. Seventeen years later, Robert Breck Brigham died, leaving nearly four millions to Boston charities, the major proportion of which was to be used for a hospital for those suffering from chronic' or incur- able diseases, or physical disability. Nine years later his sister, Eliza- beth Fay Brigham, passed away, directing that the income from her estate should be devoted to the maintenance of the latter hospital.
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