Moral disadvantages are apt to arise from the mixture of opposite characters. The virtuous are shocked and made unhappy by the profligacy of the vicious, and may afterwards he disposed to dissuade others from entering such houses ; while the young, whose habits are not yet confirmed, are in danger of being corrupted by bad com pany. These evils are most apt to appear, where venereal patients are accommodated promiscuously with others. Accordingly this has been in a great measure corrected, by assigning to such persons distinct wards, and prohibit ing all intercourse between them and others, or erecting separate institutions for their accommodation ; such as that highly beneficent charity, the Lock hospital in Lon don, which holds forth to the diseased children of vice, both medicine and the sedulously employed means of re formation. Want of correctness is in other instances kept down by a system of domestic superintendance. A per son of respectable character and manners, capable of ex ercising due authority, is selected for a matron, or house governor. This is particularly necessary, and sometimes requires great delicacy, when any of the resident medical officers are pupils, and young men addicted to pleasure, who require control for the prevention of abuses.
These charities are occasionally liable to be perverted by the persons who apply for relief. They are sometimes abused by daring impostors, who apply under the guise of distress so artfully assumed as to escape detection. This is not unfrequently done, for the mere purpose of ob taining temporary support. Hence the necessity of the utmost circumspection in examining the symptoms of the patient, and, where these are ambiguous, practising a well directed policy for subjecting them to a full probation. Suspicions on this head authorise a practitioner to abridge for a day or two the comforts of such individuals,—a mea sure to which a sick man will submit, as intended for his recovery, while a conscious impostor will make his escape as soon as possible.
The strictest regulations are always practised for pre venting the patients or their friends from bringing into an infirmary any provisions or articles of comfort, except such as are submitted to inspection, and for totally prohibiting the introduction of spiritous liquors. Habits of sobriety, thoughtfulness, and religion, also receive the usual encour agements, by the appointment of spiritual overseers, and the regular maintenance of religious worship.
The difficulty of managing all these complicated con cerns, and the great labour which is, in most instances, bestowed on them, ought to be duly appreciated before any complaints are uttered against the imperfections of infir maries. Nothing is more hurtful to society than the cen sorious spirit which conceives itself authorised to mutter and frown on every occasion on which a colour appears, on a superficial glance, for pronouncing the words injustice, partiality, negligence, or others still more indignant. This spirit of complaint is fostered only among persons who do not bestir themselves for active good. Those who are ex perienced in such affairs are sensible of the difficulty both of executing justice and humanity ; and, while they do not withhold their strictures on such imperfections as appear, bring them forward in the true spirit of social benignity, and thus contribute to improvement, without generating displeasure.
In many respects, infirmaries create additional comforts, and cherish additional virtues among those who fall under their protection. It not [infrequently happens, that by bringing individuals into the notice of the friends of hu manity, they have proved the means of accomplishing the moral reformation of the vicious, and on other occasions providing encouragement to neglected genius, or unsuc cessful industry. Employments are contrived for those patients who are able to work a little. They sometimes assist in the lighter domestic labours. A common occu pation among them is that of preparing surgeon's lint from old linen. They thus acquire useful dexterities, which may afterwards promote their domestic comfort, and enable them to administer assistance to their neighbours in private life.
One article of comfort and of cure is provided in infir maries, which is a powerful remedy in many cases of dis ease, yet, from the trouble of providing it, is too frequent ly postponed in private life, and is inconvenient even for persons in decent circumstances, viz. the cold and warm bath, especially the latter. Being always ready in an in firmary, it is exhibited at those times which are most suit able to the patient, or at such regular periods of the day, that the due preparation of the patient for it is always well timed. Thus it is riot rendered abortive by the intervening of sleep, or of a change of symptoms.
While the more humble, members of the community re ceive direct relief from infirmaries, these institutions prove beneficial to society at large, by the singular advantages which they present for the improvement of medical know ledge. Within a small compass, much more practice can be seen by a medical pupil, than by going round among the dwelling-houses of patients. Thus a larger portion of his time may be devoted to reading and other studies. With all the trouble and time he could expend, it would 1.)e impossible for him to see the same variety in private practice as at an infirmary. He not only sees those who are under the care of the physician or surgeon whom he follows : every extraordinary case within the walls be conies quickly talked of ; and interesting surgical cases spontaneously strike the eye. The establishment of clini cal lectures on the diseases of the patients gives that com pletion to the knowledge of the student, which can only be obtained by a perfect combination of the theory with he practice, and of the detail of practical precepts, with the actual exemplification of the history of disease, and the changes produced by remedies. The interests of the patient are not sacrificed to the object of medical instruc tion. On the contrary, they materially promote one another. A practitioner, who treats his patients in so pub lic a manner, and lays himself tinder the pledge of explain ing his reasons for every thing that he does, and for every omission, solicits new motives for the excitement of his diligence, and declines to screen his errors tinder those ambiguous pretexts for which private practice furnishes so ready opportunities. The opening of the bodies of de ceased patients is another advantage of the utmost import ance in the conducting of infirmaries. This practice has often furnished one topic of unjust clamour. Dissections have been held up to the horror of the public, aced have been mischievously represented as the ultimate object ol the medical attendants of infirmaries. This is highly absurd. In infirmaries, as in private life, no of bodies are made without the consent of the friends the deceased, if he has any ; and none are made different from those which a rational man would invite to be per formed in his own family. When this is the case, no rea son can exist that should prevent the perfOrmance of till-. sacred duty to the living. It is not for the personal grati fication of the medical profession ; it is for their instruc tion and usefulness in society that dissections are intended. The barbarous prejudices which existed against them among the ancients retarded the progress of medicine, and kept it in a state of comparative inefficiency for many ages. Where such prejudices still prevail, let them be submitted to. Let medical knowledge continue obscure and stationary, if it cannot be improved without shocking the delicacy, or rousing the indignation of an ignorant age. But let those who are superior to this fastidiousness use their endeavours to open the eyes of others, and, in a par ticular manner, by holding forth the enlightened examples of fathers, in the midst of their parental sorrow, examin ing with their own eyes and hands the bodies of the chil dren whom they have lost. The illustrious Haller, while he commemorates the excellencies of a deceased son, adds, as a circumstance of course, that he gave his body to be dissected.