HOSPITALS are so called from the medieval hospitia, or more properly the class of hospitals established very generally for the reception and relief of lepers, whose malady was one of the scourges of Europe. These leper hospitals were very commonly in Eng land and in Scotland called " spitals;" hence the frequency of such names of places as Spital, Spitalfields, etc. The leper hospitals, and other kinds of the old hospitia, dis appeared with the improvement of society, and substitutes for them on a broader scale began to be established in the modern form of hospitals. Of public establishments under this general designation there are now, as is commonly known, three distinct classes—hospitals for the reception and treatment of the sick and hurt, hospitals for the board and education of children, and hospitals for the reception and permanent board of poor old persons of both sexes. Hospitals of these several classes are numerous and on a munificent scale in Great Britain, where they take the position of leading charities in the country. As, in the present work, the more remarkable hospitals receive sonic notice under their respective heads, we need here only oiler a few general observations.
HoscrraLs for the sick and hurt are in some parts of England and Scotland termed infirmaries. Under whatever designation, institutions of this kind are now established in all parts of the civilized world, supported. as in England, on a principle of charity, or, as in France, chiefly from the funds of the state or the civic municipalities. The primary or more important object of all such institutions is to mitigate bodily suffering, whether that arises from natural on accidental =uses, in which respect they are lulls pensable as a refuge to all who are unable to pay for private medical or surgical aid, or as a convenient means of succor on emergencies to persons of every rank and degree of opulence. While such is the main object of these benevolent institutions, they are in numerous instances serviceable as schools for medicine and surgery; as such, no univer sity at which these and kindred branches of learning are taught can be said to be com plete without the adjunct of a well-organized hospital, where professors can practically educate their pupils by pointing out varieties of -disease and injuries, and exemplifying methods of treatment. Hence the best specimens of hospitals are found in university towns—as in London, Paris, Edinburgh, and some other cities famed as schools of medi cine and surgery. The older of the London hospitals are St. Thomas's, 1558; St. Bar
tholomew's, 1546; and Bethlehem, 1547. A considerable accession to the number took place in the reign of George IL, when society became alive to the value of such institu tions. It was at this period that the royal infirmary of Edinburgh was established (1736). The antiquity of British hospitals sinks into insignificance in comparison with that of some institutions of this kind on the continent. The Hotel Dieu in Paris, which is alleged to be the most ancient hospital in Europe, was founded in the 7th c., :Ind, long known as the liaison Dieu, received the benefactions of successive sovereigns. It is now conducted on a stupendous scale. Houses of this kind in France usually receive valuable aid from a religious sisterhood renowned for its practical benevolence, the sis ters of mercy. A striking example of these women's unselfish and useful labors is fur nished at the great hospital for the sick and hurt at Lyons,where the entire establishment —cooking, nursing, dispensing medicine, etc.—is gratuitously conducted by them.
In London, Paris, and other large scats of population the pressure for admission by patients, and likewise the necessity for classifying and properly attending to large num bers, have led to the establishment of hospitals for special departments of medical prac tice. Thus, besides the genera] hospitals, there are now lying-in hospitals, ophthalmic hospitals, consumptive hospitals, children's hospitals, etc.—each with its peculiar accom modation, and its appropriate staff of officials. Independently of these, there are hospi tals for the treatment of mental maladies, of which Bethlehem and St. Luke's in London, and the establishments in Paris known as hospices, are examples. To this class of institutions belong lunatic asylums (q.v.), also asylums for the reception and treatment of naturally imbecile children; these last, though in operation for some time in France and Switzerland, being but of recent establishment in Great Britain. To all these institutions under civil administration are to be added those hospitals which are maintained by the English, French, and other governments•for the military and naval services.