DISPEN'SARY ( Fr. dispensaire, from ML. dispensarias. from dispcnsa. larder, from Lat. dismnsar. to disbur-e, from dis-. apart + pen sarc, frequentative of prndere. to weigh). An institution in which medical or surgical treat ment is given free of charge to patients who are able to walk in and then return home. no beds being provided as in a hospital. In HIST, at a meeting of physician- in London. England, it was resolved to supply the poor with medicines at certain fixed prices. Previous to this, aid and medical treatment Were given to the poor at the house- of wealthy people or at monasteries. In 1G913 the president, een,o•,. and tifty members of the Medical College of London agreed to main tain a dispensary that should give medical aid to all who asked it. and a building was erect ed for the purpose, with rooms for seeing pa tients and dispensing medicines. Physicians were al-n appointed, who visited the sick poor in their homes. Thi, building. the Royal General Dis pensary. Bartholomew Close. London, was opened in 1770, The oldest dispensary in the United State-, the New York Dispensary, was founded in 17911. In all cities and large towns in this country dispensaries exist, supported by private charitable organizations. or maintained as 'out door poor' departments of county. city, or private hospitals. In some eases medicines are furnished gratuitously; but in most dispensaries in cities a charge of ten cents is made for each medicine prescribed.
DIsPENSARY ABUSE. In all the large cities a great number of well-to-do people seek free medi cal aid. The blame for this condition appears to lie at the doors of the trusters and superin tendents of the clinics and dispensaries, and sometimes at the doors of the physicians who practice in them. The college clinic is estab lished for the purpose of securing material with which to illustrate the didactic lectures de livered by the professors, and with which to teach medical students the appearances and con dition, of disease. TO give free medical aid
to the poor is a secondary The applicant for free treatment at a college clinic or at a dispensary where the attending physician is allowed to teach private paying pupils with the illustrative aid of the is quite as often admitted in silence as he is questioned about his ability to pay a fair fee to a physician practicing near his home. if the question is asked, the patient is not always truthful, and it is a matter of common occurrence for patients to wear old clothing and give fictitious names and false addresses. in order to avoid paying a physician the fees they are quite able to afford.
In accordance with a law passed April 1S, 1;09, a new r)Igitne was initiated in New York City on October I of that year. Since that date, each dispensary must be licensed by the State Board of Charities, and each applicant for a license must take oath that the dispensary is for the public benefit; no school of medicine is obliga tory, but the board is empowered to examine every dispensary and revoke license: of those not conforming to the law. A dispensary is de fined to he any person. corporation. institution, association, or agent whose purpose it is, either independently or in connection with any other, to furnish at any place or places, to persons non resident therein, either gratuitously or for a com pensation determined without reference to the cost or value of the thing furnished. medical or surgical treatment. medicine or apparatus; provided that the moneys used by and for the purposes of the said dispensary shall lie derived wholly or in part from trust fund,. moneys. or sources other than the individuals constituting said dispensary. Applicants for aid must sign a deem ration of financial inability. Violation of the law is punishable by fine. The college clinics, however. seem to escape the con trol intended by the framers of this statute, be cause their purpose is to teach medicine to students.