COMPLETING A GREAT CHARITY. 
THE METHODIST 
GENERAL HOSPITAL 
Its Origin, Purposes, Needs. 
“ I was sick and ye visited me.” 
“ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 
iBB 5 . This pamphlet is based on, and is, in part, an abridgement from 
a more extensive and detailed statement prepared by the Rev. A. D. 
Vail, D. D., Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Managers of the 
Hospital. 
This pamphlet is published without expense to the Hospital 
Association. CONTENTS. 
PAOE 
I. ORIGIN AND PURPOSE • • 5 
II. THE HOSPITAL NEEDED ...... 6 
III. WHY GIVE THE HOSPITAL A DENOMINATIONAL TITLE . IO 
IV. PRESENT PLANS AND ESTIMATED COSTS . . . 12 
V. PLANS FOR SUPPORT 15 
VI. THE FRIENDS NEEDED 20 
VII. BEQUESTS 22 
VIII. SUMMARY 23 
IX. APPENDIX . . . 26 
Act of Incorporation, Officers, Plans and Description 
of Buildings. Location—Sixth Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, Brooklyn, N. Y, 
The Methodist General Hospital. The Methodist General Hospital. 
I. 
Origin and Purpose. 
It is well known to the general public that in the year 188 r, Mr, 
George I. Seney, in response to his conviction of the needs of more 
hospital accommodations for the sick and the poor of the great city- 
system centering in New York, offered to give the munificent sum of 
$>200,000 to found a hospital. 
it was never the expressed design of Mr. Seney to complete by 
his own gifts this hospital. He rightfully felt that others would in 
due time come forward to complete and endow the work whose foun- 
dation he had so grandly laid. 
It was the desire of Mr. Seney to secure an institution which, in 
the perfection of its appointments and in the excellence of its sanitary 
conditions, should be equal to the best in the world. To secure these 
results no pains have been spared. Competent medical experts, in the 
interests of this work, have visited the leading institutions in Europe 
and in this country, and in all the architectural development of the 
buildings there has been a studious conformity to the plans most ap- 
proved by medical science and experience. 
As the needs of this great work developed upon his thought, Mr. 
Seney was prompted to approve of plans, the completion of which 
would involve a much greater outlay than that originally contem- 
plated. 
The responsibility for the completion of these plans he personally 
assumed, continuing to defray the expenses as they matured until his 
payments aggregated the princely sum of $410,000. 
As a result, there stand, dedicated to the needs of humanity, in a 
superb location occupying an entire block just west of Prospect Park 
in Brooklyn, and in an advanced state of completion, three noble build- 
ings. These buildings are externally complete—as shown in the 
frontispiece of this pamphlet and in the larger engraving of the 
appendix—wanting only the doors and windows. The interior work 
is also, in many features, largely provided for. 6 
The munificent founder committed his gift to the supervision of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, but he especially stipulated that this 
should be a 
GENERAL HOSPITAL 
open to Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, Heathen and 
Infidel on the same terms. 
It is the desire of the Board of Managers faithfully to carry out 
this design in its largest and most generous meaning. 
And now, this institution stands in the midst of these populous 
cities, and, in the name of the sore and pressing needs of multitudes, 
it appeals for further gifts that it may open its doors in a ministry of 
blessing to the sick and wounded. 
A sum of a little more than $200,000 will complete and furnish 
these buildings in all departments. Surely, in presence of the enor- 
mous wealth of these great cities, this is not a large sum to ask. There 
are many single men who, without embarrassment to themselves, could 
complete this enterprise, and thus make their very name a blessing 
forever. 
It certainly cannot be, when the needs for this charity shall be 
fully known, that it shall remain long undeveloped. 
If one man, for the good of his kind, can make so magnificent a 
beginning, surely among the wealthy thousands others will come 
forward to put the crown of completion upon a work so noble. 
11. 
This Hospital Needed. 
That another great hospital, under Christian auspices, in the 
crowded cities that cluster around the bay of New York, is one of the 
most pressing necessities of the hour, is susceptible of demonstration. 
The fearful amount of sickness and suffering among the worthy and 
deserving poor is far beyond the thought of all who have not made 
the matter a study. 
A great epidemic would humiliate us beyond measure, by showing 
the poverty of our resources to aid the poor. The number of sick 
whom our physicians, without expectation of fee or reward, are con- 
stantly helping, aggregates multitudes; while in a large proportion of 
these the charitable efforts of these physicians are greatly hampered 7 
or entirely neutralized by the conditions in which their patients are 
unavoidably placed. 
In New York and Brooklyn, and in the adjoining cities, those who 
in their times of accident and sickness are absolutely dependent upon 
our hospitals and dispensaries are many thousands. 
The sanitary statistics of London, which are perhaps as carefully 
prepared as those of any city, reveal the startling fact that, on the 
rigidly lowest basis, at least, one-fourth of the population of a great 
city receive gratuitous medical care and counsel within a single year. 
Our great American cities will show similar figures. And, what- 
ever may be the causes, we must include the sad fact that the need of 
assistance increases in a more rapid ratio than the advance of pop- 
ulation. 
In London the population doubled between 1830 and 1869, but 
eight of the great hospitals treated five times as many in the latter 
year as' in the first. , 
The great strain which our intense modern life puts upon both 
body and mind, the ever-increasing danger to life and limb resulting 
from the vast multiplication of mechanical contrivances to supplement 
and to supplant manual labor, the gravitation of populations into 
cities, and the crowding of them into areas insufficient to maintain 
them in health without the aid of complex artificial contrivances, the 
multiplication of vices always associated with crowded populations— 
out of these, and kindred conditions, grow the ever-increasing needs 
of a wise charitable supervision in great cities. 
A discriminating experience teaches that at least two1 hospital 
beds are required for every r,ooo of city populations. This estimate 
does not include the hospitals or infirmaries that are adjuncts to work- 
houses or almshouses for the relief of paupers. 
In the city of London, in which public charities are perhaps as 
well distributed and administered as in any city in Christendom, there 
are seven beds to every 1,000 of the population. 
But let the smaller estimate be taken and applied to the city of 
Brooklyn. Calculating its population at 700,000, this city should have 
1,400 beds available for its worthy sick poor. What is the real state 
of the case ? Careful inquiry shows that the entire hospital accommo- 
1 Oppert in his work on Hospitals and Infirmaries, which is a recognized authority, 
puts the number at four to every thousand of population. 8 
dation of the city of Brooklyn is only 850 beds.1 500 of these beds 
are maintained in the three institutions which are supported by the 
Roman Catholic Church. The accommodations of these three hospi- 
tals especially are constantly taxed to the utmost, and those having 
them in charge furnish the information that worthy applicants are 
almost daily turned from their doors because of lack of room for their 
reception. 
It thus appears that the actual present hospital needs of the city 
of Brooklyn are much in excess of the supply. 
New York City in respect to hospital accommodations is much 
better off than Brooklyn. Yet after treating 41,329 cases last year, 
the authorities report that thousands were turned away from the doors 
of the New York hospitals for the lack of room. 
But the growth of population in these cities makes necessary the 
wisest forethought with reference to the needs of the near future. The 
growth of these cities is as wonderful as a magician’s dream. A single 
decade will add vastly to the needs for a wise charity in them. And 
if the present needs are inadequately met, how are the needs of the 
near future to be provided for? Only, certainly, by building wisely 
and generously now. 
In this respect, a charitable public cannot too much admire, or too 
zealously emulate the wisdom and foresight of the Roman Catholic 
Church. It would seem that this Church is doing more, through its 
organized charities, to relieve the wants of the sick and suffering in 
hospitals than all the other denominations combined. In the two 
cities of New York and Brooklyn this Church is now maintaining in a 
very noble way more than 950 hospital beds, and it is already planning 
to add to these 200 more. 
These additional 200 beds will be equivalent to a large hos- 
pital in themselves. The Roman Catholic Church is planning for this 
heavy additional tax upon its resources which the support of these 
200 beds will require because its hospital managers know well that 
these added accommodations are absolutely needed. 
The immediate need of more hospital accommodations can, there- 
fore, hardly be overstated. Our present general hospitals are occupied 
1 Brooklyn Hospital 125 beds. 
Long Island College Hospital.. 150 “ 
St. John’s Hospital 25 
Homoeopathic “ 5° 
St. Mary’s Hospital 200 beds. 
St. Peter’s “ 150 “ 
St. Catherine’s Hospital 150 “ 9 
up to their full ability to care for patients. Wherever empty beds are 
found, its explanation is found in the lack of the resources required 
for their support. More money, much more money, is needed to enable 
them to do a better and a larger work. 
And still there are thousands uncared for. In the homes of the 
worthy poor many sicken and die for want of the conveniences and 
treatment which could be afforded them in a good hospital. But it is 
not only for the destitute or for the poor suddenly overtaken by 
calamity that hospital accommodations are needed. The conditions 
of society presented in great cities furnish a vast number of persons 
in greatly differing circumstances, but all alike in being homeless and 
without adequate provisions for their care when sick or disabled—such 
are sailors, as a class, a large proportion of young mechanics and 
clerks, servant girls and female operatives and saleswomen, travelers and 
temporary sojourners of every kind, and a great multitude of people 
living in hotels and boarding-houses. In addition to these must be 
considered the needs of many, both in the cities and in the country, 
who are neither destitute nor homeless, but whose cases are such that 
special treatment or special skill is needed for their relief such as can 
only be obtained in a well-organized hospital. It is difficult to judge 
between these several classes as to which of them appeals the most to 
sympathy and consideration. In the statistics which have just been 
given, the needs of the destitute have chiefly entered into the calcula- 
tion, but it will be seen that the equal needs of the other classes ought 
not to be refused a hearing. Demands on every hand for a large and 
wise charity in providing for the relief of the sick and disabled, are 
pressing at the very doors of those who are able to help. 
The Methodist General Hospital is needed. When completed it 
will present facilities for hospital work equaled by very few institutions 
in this country. It will not only be a boon to the afflicted, but it will 
be a source of just pride and honor to the charitable public. 
Will not every reader of this pamphlet volunteer at once to take 
some part, according to his ability, to open promptly the doors of this 
institution for the relief of the sick and the healing of the wounded ? 111. 
Why Give this Hospital a Denominational Title ? 
This Hospital is to be known as the Methodist General Hospital. 
The question will be asked, “Is it designed for Methodists alone?” 
No more for them than for any other people. It is an institution for 
humanity. Its doors are to stand forever open to all persons who 
may properly be admitted to such an institution, whether Christian, 
Infidel, or Pagan. 
Why, then, give it a denominational title ? In this case it would 
be a sufficient answer to this question to say, that the founder of this 
Hospital chose to commit his gift to the representatives of that de- 
nomination in which his own father lived and died an honored minis- 
ter. But it was the furthest thing possible from his thought that 
this institution should be conducted on any narrow or sectarian basis. 
The name which the Hospital bears can present no reasonable bar 
to the gifts of those who in this way desire to benefit humanity. The 
Managers of this Institution seek to be only fellow-workers with all 
for the common good. 
But the advantages of denominational hospitals are by no means 
to be ignored. A denominational charity secures a very wide distri- 
bution of interests not only in its administration, but in the proper 
subjects for its benefits. It is desirable that the hospital should open 
its doors to all the deserving poor, but not to professional paupers. 
Professional paupers are proper subjects for the State, but not for 
private charities. It is most desirable, in every way, to guard against 
imposition from this source; and it is believed that by its methods of 
organization and support a denominational hospital secures this im- 
munity more perfectly than most public charities. 
Again, proper hospital administration always involves large ex- 
penditures, and the annual expenses of a hospital require the regular 
accession to its funds of large amounts. It is only in very exceptional 
instances, and then usually only after a long history, that a hospital 
becomes the possessor of an endowment the income from which is 
sufficient to meet its expenses. A hospital, therefore, needs a large 
constituency, which is directly and continuously interested in its work, 
from which it may derive the funds necessary for its current expenses, 
after it has once been built. With the organization of society in this 11 
country, a large religious denomination presents pre-eminently the 
most favorable conditions for supplying such a constituency. 
One of the noblest outgrowths of denominational life within the 
last fifty years will be found in the great hospitals bearing the names 
of the different Christian churches. This is at least a partial answer 
to those who believe in the narrowness of creeds. Every one of these 
hospitals opens its doors as freely to others as to those of the denom- 
ination whose name it bears. 
These great hospitals are denominational only as they collect the 
hundreds of little streams of charity, and then spread them, as the 
Nile spreads from her rich abundance, that which she has gathered in 
the far-off mountains. 
Two great facts are leading the Christian Church of to-day to 
new and large charities ; 
First, God has greatly increased and prospered the young men of 
the Church, and given them money to use in his own cause. 
Secondly, the preaching of the Word has been largely in the di- 
rection of Christian works, and the Church is showing its love of God 
by its love for men. 
A great hospital is generally the outgrowth of the benevolence 
of some princely man, who determines to build and who soon inspires 
others with his enthusiasm. 
So did James Lennox, and he made not only possible but real 
the great Presbyterian Hospital of New York, one of the grandest 
monuments to his princely liberality. But in all these cases the 
growth has been slow, and the delays in the end have inured to the 
benefit of the institution. It was not best for one man to build the 
whole, and Mr. Lennox gave in a way that led others to give, and at 
last a hospital was opened, rightly not bearing the name of one man, 
but of a great denomination, whose members thus are more widely in- 
terested in its prosperity. If the Presbyterian Hospital is denomina- 
tional, it is nevertheless like a vine running along the dividing lines ; 
it is dropping its rich fruitage into all the adjoining gardens. 
In a similar way grew up the famous St. Luke’s and the Mount 
Sinai Hospitals of New York. A few large gifts were needed in the 
beginning, but the present magnificent charities were of slow growth 
and represent the gifts of the many. 
The Methodist church may justly be expected to give its fostering 
care to the institution bearing its own name. This church, in com- 12 
parison with some other of the leading denominations, is by no means 
so wealthy in proportion to its numbers in the great cities; but with 
multitudes of its young men increasing in means and liberality, with a 
growing sentiment among all Christians that they are but stewards of 
their Lord’s money, it may be confidently expected that this Hospital, 
when once completed, will have a continued and increasing support. 
With the knowledge of the success of other institutions, with the 
advantage of their experience, with the inspiration of their usefulness, 
and the certainty that the cause is one which must commend itself to 
all lovers of their kind, the Methodist General Hospital now makes its 
appeal to a benevolent public. 
IV. 
Present Plans and Estimated Cost. 
A Special Committee was appointed by the Board of Managers 
to report on the amount of money needed to complete the hospital 
and to suggest a plan for raising the money. After determining the 
cost of the work to be done, and believing that the people would give 
the money when they knew the facts, they decided to secure, if possi- 
ble, the services of a thoroughly competent man to act as the financial 
agent of the institution. The Rev. George P. Mains, a member of 
the New York East Conference, was appointed by the Bishop for this 
work in April, 1885. 
The Committee reported that, in their judgment, it was inexpedi- 
ent at this time to attempt to raise the entire amount of money 
required to complete all the buildings of the hospital, but that they 
would recommend an attempt to raise sufficient to complete and open 
for use as a hospital one of the pavilions, together with the rooms 
in the basement of the Central Main Building, for the economic 
uses of the institution. In addition to this, some expense would have 
to be incurred upon the other buildings, and in grading and fencing 
the grounds, so as to make the surroundings of the pavilion of a 
proper character. 
Careful inquiry as to the amount required to pay for the proposed 
work had convinced the Committee that it would not exceed $60,000. 
This conclusion was based on the following detailed estimates 
that had been submitted by the architect, Mr. John Mumford, and had been examined and indorsed by Messrs. John French and Samuel 
Booth, of the Building Committee : 
FOR CENTRAL BUILDING 
Laundry fixtures $2,000 00 
Steam heating 1,062 00 
Sash, doors and blinds 4.400 00 
Plastering and mason work 1,841 00 
Carpenter work 1,500 00 
Gaspipes and plumbing 500 00 
Kitchen utensils..,. 1,200 00 
512,503 00 
WEST PAVILION. 
Steam heating $6,775 00 
Sash, doors and blinds . 3,400 00 
Plastering and mason work 4,765 00 
Carpenter work 6,500 OO 
Plumbing and gas-fitting 4,000 00 
Hand elevators and lifts 800 co 
Iron air-duct covers 500 00 
26,740 00 
FURNITURE. 
Iron bedsteads $ 891 OO 
Bedding, etc 691 50 
House furnishing goods no 40 
Furniture 528 50 
Drygoods 1,289 59 
Crockery 154 00 
3,664 99 
Apothecary shop outfit 300 00 
800 feet iron fencing $2,500 OO 
Stone coping and foundation for fence 1,500 00 
Flagging Sixth street and inside of fence 1,500 00 
Grading walks and sodding 2,000 00 
400 feet board fencing 400 00 
7,900 00 
Stable 3,000 00 
Contingencies 4,292 01 
Architect’s fees 1,500 00 
Total amount $59,900 00 The completion of a pavilion according to the plan herein detailed 
will furnish accommodations for 54 beds in wards and in private 
rooms, and will provide, to the extent of its capacity, in every way a 
first-class hospital. 
The Board of Managers adopted these suggestions of its Com- 
mittee, and ordered that the work be proceeded with as soon as the 
entire amount of the estimated cost should have been raised. 
The plan for raising this $60,000 is by conditional subscriptions, 
none of which shall be binding unless the entire amount shall have 
been validly subscribed. 
To assist in raising this money, an appeal is made to 
EVERY READER OF THIS PAMPHLET. 
But this only proposes a commencement of the work. It still remains 
to complete internally the central main building and another pavilion. 
It is hoped that the final work of completing these buildings may be 
entered upon soon. The central building, one of the finest hospital 
buildings in the world, may be completed and furnished throughout 
for about $lOO,OOO. The other pavilion—the pavilions are exactly 
alike—can be completed and furnished for a sum not exceeding 
$30,000. 
This work appeals to the friends of humanity. Consider the 
quality of this appeal. Is there any cause to which you can more 
worthily consecrate your means? By doing this, you would do a work 
like that to which Christ gave a large part of His earthly ministry, the 
kind of work which has clothed with deathless sanctity the names of 
John Howard and Florence Nightingale. If God has blessed you 
with large means, will you not regard it as your grateful privilege to 
contribute to the completion of a house of mercy whose doors, when 
you are dead, will stand perpetually open to welcome and bless the 
sick and wounded, and to give a ministry of Christian cheer to the 
dying? 
The managers are sure that the full capacity of this hospital will 
be taxed as soon as it can fairly be thrown open to the public, and, 
from their knowledge of the situation, are confident that the running 
expenses of the institution can be certainly provided for from 
the first. 
The present necessity is the completion of the buildings. 15 
V. 
The Plans for Support. 
When the buildings are completed and furnished for use, then 
will come the question of its support as a great charity: How can 
this be done ? The substance of what follows has been taken from 
careful studies and estimates made for the information of the Board 
of Managers by one of its medical members, and may be relied upon. 
In the course of a single year each bed will be occupied by many 
different persons, one patient giving place to another as he goes forth 
healed or helped. The cost of maintaining a bed varies in different 
hospitals. In 1883, the money spent for each bed in the Mt. Sinai 
Hospital was $377; in St. Luke’s, $426; in the Roosevelt, $471 ; in 
the Presbyterian, $524. For the purposes of an estimate an average 
of $450 for the Methodist Hospital maybe accepted; 50 beds then 
would require $22,500. 
We may classify the sources of income under the following heads: 
1. Interest from invested funds. 2. Payments by patients. 3. Church 
Hospital Association Fees. 4. Donations from individuals. 5. Mis- 
cellaneous and Hospital Sunday collections. 6. Subsidies from city 
treasury. 
INTEREST FROM INVESTED FUNDS 
This source of support is, of course, the most desirable, and in 
most hospitals the effort to provide it has been earnest and unremit- 
ting, and the reports of many institutions note large additions to their 
permanent endowment annually. Thus the Presbyterian Hospital in 
New York, with its no beds, received $172,422,64, in 1883, toward its 
endowment; $1 50,000 of this was the result of a special effort to raise 
an endowment fund, $22,422.64 was the result of an organized effort 
of some duration to secure the endowment of special beds by particu- 
lar churches. 
In 1884, siB>737-77 was received from this latter source also, and 
$21,070.25 from legacies and bequests. The total amount of income 
received by this institution from its invested funds was $33,499.47 in 
1884, while its total current expenses were $51,404.36. 
In 1884, St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Hospital in New York 
received an income from its invested funds amounting to $30,025.53. 
It received $28,823.48 in general legacies, and $26,000 from individuals for the endowment of particular beds. The managers of this institu- 
tion have made particular efforts to advance its endowment by this 
plan of having special beds endowed, these beds being known by the 
name of the persons endowing them, or, as in many cases, by the 
name of persons in whose memory they are endowed. According to 
the report of this hospital for the year ending October 18, 1884, 91 of 
its beds have thus been endowed. The endowment plan being that a 
gift of $5,000 should endow a bed in perpetuity; $3,000, during the 
life of the donor; $3,000, a bed in the children’s ward in perpetuity. 
If an earnest effort was made to awaken the interest of Methodist 
Churches, and of individuals having sympathy with the charitable 
work of the Church, equally liberal offerings would undoubtedly be 
forthcoming for the support of the Methodist Hospital. The securing 
of a permanent endowment fund must engage the special efforts of 
the friends of the institution from the beginning. The sources from 
which it is to be obtained are general donations, legacies and bequests, 
and the endowment of particular beds by individuals, churches and 
societies. It cannot be expected that much can be obtained before 
the institution shall have been opened ; but, according to the experi- 
ence of other like institutions, it may be expected that the influence 
of its own work, after it shall have been inaugurated, will be such as to 
win the needed endowment from the constituency to which it will 
specially appeal, and whose charity it will professedly represent. A 
permanent endowment fund will become an important element in 
making possible a future increase in the number of beds maintained 
in the hospital. 
PAYMENTS BY PATIENTS 
The amount received by hospitals from patients who are able to pay 
more or less for their maintenance while in hospital must naturally 
vary much, being dependent upon the class of people who look to the 
particular hospital for relief, and to the care with which the authorities 
of the institution look to it that its benevolence is not abused by 
those who can, but will not pay for what they receive. The custom 
most in favor with American hospital authorities, with reference to 
payments by patients, is that while no person who would be likely to 
be benefited by the care of the hospital should be refused admission 
on account of inability to pay, yet that all who are able to pay for 
their maintenance, even though it be but little, should be required to do so. By this means a hospital is able to extend its charity to a 
larger number of those who need it, and escapes, at the same time, the 
evils of an indiscriminate charity. 
The reports of other hospitals show that payments from patients 
amount to a considerable sum. From the last annual statement of 
the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association of New York City, we 
learn that the cost of maintaining, in 1884, the 20 hospitals that form 
that Association was $546,380—of which $131,241 (about 24 per cent.) 
were received from paying patients. 
During 1884 the Presbyterian Hospital of New York received 
$6,463.16 from paying patients: St. Luke’s P. E., $8,803.90. In the 
previous year the New York Hospital received $26,570.08, and the 
Massachusetts General Hospital, $18,389.28. 
The tendency upon the part of persons needing unusual care, or 
special surgical treatment, and of those who have not home facilities 
for their care when sick, to avail themselves of the advantages of 
hospital treatment, esteeming it a privilege to pay for the same, is 
continually increasing in this country. All the conditions which 
surround the Methodist General Hospital are such as to give reason to 
believe that a large number of persons who would be able to pay all 
or some part of the cost of their maintenance, from a very wide extent 
of territory, would apply for reception into it. At least, it seems that 
we are justified in the conclusion that the amounts that would be 
received from such patients would not fall below the general average. 
If this be the case, somewhat more than $5OOO annually may be 
relied upon by the hospital from this source. 
INCOME FROM ASSOCIATION FEES. 
It is purposed at once to form a general HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION 
throughout the Methodist Churches of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey 
City, Newark, and in adjacent communities. 
In this Association there will be four general classes, viz.: Life 
Members, Patrons, Members, and Contributors. 
A person is made a Life Member by the payment of $250 and 
approval, upon the presentation of his name, by the Board of Mana- 
gers. A life member shall have the privilege of nominating one 
patient annually to a bed in the hospital during his lifetime, and of 
voting at the election of Managers of the Hospital. A person becomes a Patron for one year by the payment of $25, 
and for that year is entitled to the same privileges as a life member. 
The annual payment of $5 shall constitute the donor a Member, 
subject to approval by the Board of Managers. All members shall be 
entitled to vote at the election of Managers of the Hospital at meet- 
ings regularly called for that purpose. 
A person is constituted a Contributor by the annual payment 
of si. 
The names of all members of these various classes will duly appear 
in the printed reports of the institution. 
In connection with each church a Local Committee, including 
persons of both sexes, will be appointed to represent and to advance 
the interests of the Association in that church. 
The experience of the Jewish Hospital in New York (Mt. Sinai) is 
most suggestive of the possibilities of an Association such as is here pro- 
posed. From membership fees in a similar Association connected with 
that hospital there was realized in the year 1883, $35,192.50. Up to 
the present writing, owing to the approaching summer vacation season, 
associations have been started in only two churches, viz.: The Nos- 
trand Avenue Church of Brooklyn and the church in the village of 
Flushing. The cause was presented in neither case under the most 
favorable conditions, but in the former church the sum of $642 was 
pledged, and in the latter, $Bl. The conditions of the pledges are 
such that much of these amounts will be annually repeated for five 
years. 
Selecting these churches as samples, it is reasonable to expect 
that at least from $12,000 to $15,000 annually may be realized from 
this source. In the meantime, the yearly presentation before the 
churches of this cause will be an effective means of stimulating a wide 
interest in the institution. 
INDIVIDUAL AND MISCELLANEOUS DONATIONS. 
The amounts received by a hospital from the casual donations of 
individuals who become interested in its work must, in the nature of 
the case, vary much; but the experience of other institutions shows 
that they often amount to a consideiable sum. From this source the 
Presbyterian Hospital in New York received in 1883, $1,798.14, and in 
1884, $776.25. The P. E. Hospital of Philadelphia received in 1883, 
$9,792.15. St. Luke’s P. E. Hospital in 1884 received $5,792.75 Under this head may be classified also the contributions elicited by 
Fairs, Festivals, Concerts, Donation Parties and the like. Thus at a 
fair for the benefit of the Homoeopathic Hospital of Brooklyn, in 
1884, more than SB,OOO was realized. By the Purim Ball in New 
York, in 1883, $15,115 was realized for the benefit of the Mt. Sinai 
Hospital. By a fair held annually for the benefit of the Brooklyn 
Orphan Asylum a regular income of between five and ten thousand 
dollars is received. As the result of a concert, a festival and a dona- 
tion party, the Methodist Home for the Aged in Brooklyn netted 
$2,587 in 1884.. It would seem as if the amounts which can be 
received from these sources are limited only by the needs of an 
institution and the energy and wisdom of its managers. It would 
seem reasonable to expect from this source at least $1,500. 
HOSPITAL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY COLLECTIONS 
An additional source of income for hospitals—the Hospital Sat- 
urday and Sunday collection—are the public general collections which 
are taken up in New York and Brooklyn on the last Sunday and pre- 
ceding Saturday of each year, and which are divided among the 
hospitals that form the Association, according to the number of days 
of hospital care extended to free patients in each institution. This 
has amounted to much less in Brooklyn than in New York City. If, 
as may be expected, the Methodist General 'Hospital is admitted 
into this Association, an annual sum of about five hundred dollars 
might be expected from this source. 
SUBSIDY FROM CITY TREASURY. 
The city of Brooklyn pays annually from its general treasury 
between fifty and sixty thousand dollars to the various incorporated 
hospitals situated in it; in return for which these hospitals receive and 
care for without charge all persons brought to it by the public 
ambulances. The amount received by each of the larger hospitals 
is $4,000. 
The same amount would undoubtedly be paid to the Methodist 
General Hospital when once in operation. 
SUMMARY. 
The immediate sources of income available for the support of the 
Methodist General Hospital are, therefore: 20 
Invested Funds $ 
Payments by Patients 5,000 00 
Hospital Association Fees 12,000 00 
Miscellaneous Donations 1,500 00 
Hospital Saturday and Sunday Fund 500 00 
City Treasury 4,000 00 
Total $23,000 00 
VI. 
The Friends Needed. 
There are no disguises to be made. This institution needs 
friends. Two hundred thousand dollars are needed to open all 
departments of the hospital for its designed work. This is a large 
amount of money. Will it be secured? Yes. From whom? The 
writer of this paragraph does not know, but he has the profound 
conviction that large-minded men will be found who will honor 
themselves and bless humanity by responding to the needs of this 
work. Where these men now are it is useless to speculate. Providence 
always has men for emergencies ; and here is a call of Providence. The 
men who are to render large help may or may not have been known 
as liberal givers in the past. Every great demand of charity discovers 
a new generation of philanthropists. To all such this noble hospital 
now makes eloquent appeal. And this appeal is for princely gifts. 
There is, now the call and the opportunity for some man or men 
to come forward and write their names in the elect list of benefactors 
to mankind. This suggestion is the farthest possible from ignoring 
or discounting the smaller sums which may be relied upon for this 
cause from the many who, though generously disposed, are less able 
than others to give in large amounts. The widow’s contribution, 
though but two farthings, was declared by the Saviour to be larger 
than any gift cast into the treasury. Every dollar, coming from what- 
ever source, is needed, and will be most gratefully received. Indeed, 
the smaller gifts, in their aggregation, must be relied upon largely to 
keep this institution healthfully at work. These gifts will be the 
exponent of popular interest felt in the institution. 
But it may not be forgotten that the work proposed is a large 
work. It will be attended with large costs. It needs from persons who are able a few large foundation gifts to fortify it for the heavy 
demands to be made upon it. 
And what nobler thing can any one do than to answer to these 
needs ? Those who have abundance, by the very prerogatives of that 
abundance are the divinely-appointed creators and custodians of public 
charities. They, in these respects, have great privileges, and to dis- 
charge well the duties growing out of these privileges is to be reward- 
ed with the sweetest luxury that can come to a human life. 
The necessities of the age lay an increasing demand upon men 
of means to endow the causes of charity. It is not only true that 
the poor we have always with us, but the promise seems to be that 
for generations to come, especially in large cities, these will be present 
in increasing numbers. 
These statements contain nothing new. They are statements of 
plain and broad truths, the force of which many fully feel. And now, 
the Methodist General Hospital comes forward as a new agency of 
relief in this great field of human needs. It is the purpose of this 
publication to invite attention to the merits of this institution. 
Its object and its present needs merit a large response from per- 
sons who are able to promote the one and to relieve the other. 
The personal attention of every reader of this pamphlet is asked, 
especially to the following suggestions and propositions, marked I, If Ilf 
IV, V, VI, VII: 
I. An appeal is made for a man who will come forward and com- 
plete and equip the main central building. Millions of surplus money 
are now lying idle in the banks. An investment that should secure 
the completion of this building would be productive at once, and 
would bring back its rich returns for generations to come. 
Who will make this investment ? 
11. There is a call to some one to complete and furnish a pavilion. 
This can be done for $30,000. Is there any better investment for a 
person who could spare the means than to do this, and thus mortgage 
to himself the personal gratitude of each of the thousands who, in 
years to come, in that pavilion, will receive skilled treatment and 
kindly nursing? 
Who will respond to this call? 
111. But there are hundreds of men who, though not able to 
help so largely, are able to help liberally. Is it too much to say that 22 
a hundred men ought to be found at once in New York and Brooklyn 
and in the surrounding communities who could give each $5,000? 
Will you be one of this hundred ? 
IV. Is it too much to expect that within the same limits there 
are a hundred other men who will give each $1,000? 
Will you be one of this hundred? 
V. Certainly there are still one hundred persons who will give 
each $5OO. 
Will you be one of this hundred? 
VI. There is a much larger number of persons who can give in 
sums of $lOO, $5O and $25. 
Where will you place yourself in this list ? 
VII. If you would make a contribution, if you desire further 
information, if you would like an interview, if you are interested, call 
upon or address the Rev. George P. Mains, 
at 356 Quincy Street, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
He is the authorized and accredited Financial Agent of the institu- 
tion. He will be glad to furnish any needed information, or to receive 
any communication of interest. 
VII. 
BEQUESTS. 
The Methodist General Hospital needs at once large and generous 
gifts from living men. If it be practicable, the best time to give 
money is in one’s lifetime, when the donor can enjoy the satisfaction 
of seeing the fruits of his own benevolence. He who gives thus 
makes his gift twice a blessing—a blessing to himself as well as to 
others. The fortunes of the man who is his own executor are not 
likely to be absorbed in litigation instituted by selfish or dissatis- 
fied heirs. 
But it is still true that the circumstances of many are such as not 
to permit them to set apart their means for charitable purposes during 
life. Many such intend, at their decease, to devote to charity the 
principal now essential to their own business activity, or whose income 
was essential to their support while living. To all such, and to all 
others, the .Methodist General Hospital is commended as a charity 23 
which, in all respects, is worthy of remembrance. The history of most 
charitable institutions of long standing shows that their strength and 
usefulness have been greatly augmented through the bequests of 
friends. 
By leaving funds securely invested in behalf of a worthy charity 
the donor leaves behind him an agency of mercy which will make his 
life-work continue a blessing among men. In the most valuable sense 
such a person “ being dead, yet speaketh.” 
If the reader purposes to leave any portion of his estate to chari- 
table institutions, he is invited carefully to consider the claims of the 
Methodist General Hospital. 
The following is a brief legal form under which bequests may be 
made in behalf of the hospital; 
FORM OF BEQUEST 
I give, devise and bequeath unto “The METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
HOSPITAL in the city of Brooklyn,” a corporation duly incorporated 
by the Legislature of the State of New York by an act entitled, “An 
Act to incorporate The Methodist Episcopal Hospital in the city of 
Brooklyn,” passed May 27, 1881 
(Here insert the amount of money bequeathed, or a description either of 
specific personal or real property, or both, given, or, if it be the residue 
of an estate, state that fact.) 
VIII. 
Summary. 
1. The Hospital property.—s4lo,ooo, the gift of one man, has 
been invested in this property. This has secured as a site an entire 
city block in a location most admirable. Upon this site have been 
erected three magnificent buildings; a central main building, and two 
lateral pavilions. These buildings are more than two thirds com- 
pleted. When complete, they will furnish rooms for 140 beds, besides 
all the dormitories and offices, and other appointments required for 
the administration of a first-class hospital. 
To the extent of its accommodations, there is no better Hospital 
property in America than this. To complete these buildings and 
open them for their designed use, the reader of this pamphlet is in- 
vited to contribute. 24 
2. This Hospital IS NEEDED.—These great cities are growing 
almost beyond precedent. Their present hospital accommodations 
are far below the needs. Thousands of worthy patients are turned 
away from the doors of the New York Hospitals yearly for want of 
room. The same is true of Brooklyn. Brooklyn with a population 
of 700,000 ought to have at least 1,400 hospital beds. Its available 
beds number less than 850. The present needs are not met. The 
needs of the near future will be multiplied. This appeal is one of 
humanity. There is no nobler object to which a man of benevolent 
purpose can devote his means. 
3. This Hospital IS not sectarian, though bearing a denom- 
inational name. Its charter is as broad as humanity. Its doors are 
to stand open for all, irrespective of country, color or creed. It is ex- 
pected that this Hospital will appeal especially to the benevolence of 
the Methodist people. This is the advantage of a denominational 
charity. A large element of its support is in the sustained good will 
of the numerous class whose name it bears. But as this is to be in 
the best sense a public and a humane institution, it makes its just 
appeal to all classes of citizens irrespective of preferences of creed. 
Every man’s gift in behalf of this institution will receive the 
largest and most grateful recognition. 
4. As for the purposes for which money is needed, see detailed 
statement in Chapter IV. 
5. The Hospital, when once opened can be adequately 
SUPPORTED.—For detailed information under this head, see Chapter 
V. 
As soon as the buildings can be completed a systematic and con- 
tinuous effort will be made to secure an interest-bearing fund. From 
facts already known it is confidently expected that at the very open- 
ing of the institution, a goodly number of persons will endow beds, 
the donor giving to a particular bed his own name. A gift of $5,000 
will endow a bed in perpetuity, entitling the donor or his representa- 
tives to the continuous use of one bed in the Hospital. A gift of $3,000 
will entitle the donor to the continuous use of one bed during his life- 
time. It is believed that this will be a favorite method with the pro- 
prietors of large establishments where many persons are employed. 
It would be easy for the workmen in a large house by the raising 
of $450 a year to secure the right to have at least one of their own 
number treated in the Hospital for every day in the year. 25 
There could be no better provident society for the sick among 
the poor. In a shop or store where there are 130 employees, a tax of 
a cent a day on each person would secure a bed for a year. And so 
by a modification of this plan to suit particular cases, it would be 
found easy for many societies, or groups of families, to secure the 
right to the continuous use of one bed a year in the Hospital. 
This institution is worthy of help. It has friends who already 
bear its interests upon their hearts. To these friends others will be 
added. By these, devices will be planned and worked, which must 
result in giving strength and solidity to this charity. 
The managers of this Hospital are practical and well known-men, 
who have no salaries to secure, no private interests to serve through 
such an institution. It is entirely free from political management, 
and all of its employees must secure and hold their places on the 
ground of merit. 
As there is no large endowment to control, the Board will surely 
demand the most rigid economy in its affairs. Every man who aids 
the Hospital may feel that all that careful financial management and 
skilled experience can do, will be done to render his aid most efficient. 
6. Read Chapter VI. on “ The Friends Needed.” 
7. BEQUESTS.—As to what is suggested under this head, see 
Chapter VII. 
Appendix.—See appendix for act of incorporation, list of 
officers, plans of buildings, etc. APPENDIX. 
A. 
Act of Incorporation. 
An Act to incorporate the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in the City 
of Brooklyn. 
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- 
bly, do enact as follows : 
Section i. George I. Seney, James M. Buckley, George G. Rey- 
nolds, Milton S. Ferry, Oliver Hoyt, Theodore Runyon and their 
associates, as hereinafter named, are hereby constituted and appointed 
a body corporate, in fact and in name, by the name and style of “The 
Methodist Episcopal Hospital in the City of Brooklyn,” with power 
to establish, maintain and conduct a hospital in the city of Brooklyn, 
in Kings County and State of New York. 
Sec. 2. The property and concerns of said corporation shall be 
vested in and managed by a board of thirty-two managers to be con- 
stituted and provided for in the following section: 
Sec. 3. George I. Seney, Oliver Hoyt, Samuel Booth, James M. 
Buckley, John B. Cornell, William M. Ingraham, Albert D. Vail, George 
G. Reynolds, Daniel A. Goodsell, Lewis S. Pilcher, M. D., George C. 
Martin, James Magee, Alfred E. M. Purdy, M. D., John Elliott, John 
French, Milton S. Terry, Thomas L. Rushmore, Theodore Runyon, 
William J. Hutchinson, Mark Hoyt, Daniel Ayres, M. D., James M. 
Fuller, Henry A. Buttz, Stephen Barker, Wm. H. Stiles, James H, 
Taft, James M. Fitzgerald, John M. Phillips, the Rev. Wm. L. Harris, 
Bishop of the M. E. Church, now residing in the city of New York; 
the Rev. Matthew Simpson, Bishop of the M. E. Church, now residing 
in Philadelphia, Pa.; the Rev. Randolph S. Foster, Bishop of the 
M. E. Church, now residing in Boston, Mass.; and the Rev. Edward 
G. Andrews, Bishop of the M. E. Church, now residing in the city of 
Washington, in the District of Columbia, shall constitute the first 
Board of Managers of said corporation. 
SEC. 4. As soon as practicable after the passage of this act, the 
said Board shall organize and by lot divide the thirty-two managers into four classes of eight each, so that each class shall contain a Bishop 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The term of office of the first 
of said classes shall expire on the second Wednesday of January 
next; that of the second, third and fourth classes respectively on the 
second Wednesday in January one, two and three years thereafter, so 
that eight managers, and one of them a Bishop as aforesaid, shall be 
elected by the said Board of Managers annually by ballot to hold their 
seats for four years. Managers shall hold their offices until others are 
elected in their places. 
Sec. 5. The Board of Managers shall have power to fill all vacan- 
cies that may occur in said Board, to enact by-laws, and to appoint 
all such agents, assistants and attendants as may be proper to carry 
out the purposes of said corporation. Among these shall be included 
a superintendent and a chaplain, or both a superintendent and a 
chaplain, but these positions shall be held only by members of the 
M. E. Church. Whenever the place held by a Bishop shall become 
vacant, either by expiration of his term or in any other manner, such 
vacancy shall be filled by the election of the same or some other 
Bishop of the M. E. Church. 
Sec. 6. Not less than ten managers shall constitute a quorum for 
the purpose of electing officers, making or changing by-laws, or for 
holding any special meeting, but for all other purposes and at stated 
meetings, six shall be a quorum. 
Sec. 7. The said corporation are authorized to take by purchase, 
devise, bequest, or otherwise, or may hold, transfer and convey for the 
purposes of said hospital any real and personal property so far forth 
as the same is in accordance with the general laws of this State, and 
not otherwise, and which said property shall be exempt from local 
taxation, and shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions of law 
relating to charitable institutions. 
Sec. 8. This corporation shall possess the general powers, and be 
subject to the provisions, restrictions and liabilities contained in the 
third title of the eighteenth chapter of part first of the Revised 
Statutes. 
Sec. 9. This act shall take effect immediately. 
Passed, May 27, 1881. 28 
B. 
OFFICERS AND MANAGERS, MAY 28, 1885. 
Officers. 
President, - James M. Buckley. 
Recording Secretary, ... James N. Fitzgerald. 
Treasurer, - George I. Seney. 
Corresponding Secretary, - - - Albert D. Vail. 
Managers, 
Terms expire 1886. 
Thomas L. Rushmore, George Copeland, 
William M. Ingraham, Daniel A. Goodsell, 
John Elliott, Henry M. Buttz, 
A. E. M. Purdy, M. D., Bishop E. G. Andrews. 
Terms expire 1887. 
Samuel Booth, Stephen Barker, 
William Stiles, Mark Hoyt, 
James McGee, James M. King, 
Henry M. Benedict, Bishop W. L. Harris. 
Terms expire 1888. 
George I. Seney, John D. Slayback, 
Daniel Ayers, M. D., Jos. S. Stout, 
Oliver Hoyt, James N. Fitzgerald, 
George G. Reynolds, Bishop J. F. Hurst. 
Terms expire 1889. 
W. H. B. Pratt, M. D., John French, 
J. M. Phillips, J. M. Buckley, 
L. S. Pilcher, M. D., A. D. Vail, 
J. H. Taft, Bishop R. S. Foster. 
Financial Agent, 
GEORGE P. MAINS, 
356 Quincy Street, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
OF THE 
Methodist General Hospital. 
Site.—Upon the slope which inclines from the westerly side of 
Prospect Park, in the City of Brooklyn, N. Y.. downwards towards the 
bay, the easterly boundary of the hospital grounds being about 300 
yards distant from the Park. The highest point of the site is 136 feet 
7 inches above high water. 
The plot of land constituting the hospital grounds consists of the 
entire city block bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and Sixth 
and Seventh Streets, in the City of Brooklyn. The grounds are rectan- 
gular, being 695 feet 9 inches from east to west, and 200 feet from north 
to south. For purposes of air space the area of these surrounding 
streets will always remain as available as that of the block itself. This 
more than doubles the superficial ground area upon which to estimate 
the ultimate limit in the number of patients that ought ever to be ag- 
gregated on this site. At the rate of 540 square feet to each patient— 
the present accepted standard of requirement—this site could be made 
to safely accommodate 500 patients. 
Drainage.—The grounds slope rapidly, the Seventh Avenue line 
being 25 feet lower than the Eighth Avenue line. This secures perfect 
surface drainage, and equally good deep drainage, owing to the loose, 
gravelly nature of the soil, except at one point on the upper portion of 
the grounds, where a saucer-like stratum of clay forms a pocket, for the 
drainage of which special drains, that empty into .the street sewer main, 
have been constructed. 
The Buildings.—The accompanying prints show the external ap- 
pearance of the buildings as far as completed, and the details of the 
relations of the buildings to each other, and of the varying offices, rooms 
and wards. The buildings front upon Sixth Street, and consist of a 
main central building, an accessory central building, and two pavilions, 
one on either side of the main building. The basements only of these 
buildings are connected by light corridors. 
The details of the grouping of these buildings upon the ground is 
best seen in Fig. 3, which shows the plan of the basement stories. 
Only about the central one-half of the area of the block is occupied 
by these buildings, leaving abundant space for additional pavilions, or 
for such other buildings as the future needs of the hospital may 
require. 
The Main Cent7'al Building is 155 feet 6 inches in length and 92 feet 
in depth, exclusive of the tower, which projects 19 feet. The height to the top of the cornices is 61 feet 8 inches, and to the top of the tower 
126 feet. 
The building is of brick, trimmed with New Jersey free-stone. It is 
fire-proof, the floor beams, partitions and stairs being of iron, and the 
roofs of iron, asbestos and slate. There is no woodwork on the exterior, all 
cornices and dormer windows being of stone. The windows and porches 
are ornamented with handsomely carved capitals in different designs. 
The basement story is ten feet high, and is designed to contain a 
sitting and reception room for employees, a sewing room, toilet and 
store rooms, an accident reception ward and an examining room. In 
this basement is to be placed the heating apparatus for the building, to 
consist of boxes enclosing steam coils, which receive supplies of fresh 
air from air-ducts leading to them from a common inlet, the supply 
being insured and regulated by a fan. These boxes each communicate 
with flues that pass upwards in the walls of the building to the various 
rooms on each floor, where they open by suitable registers. These flues 
are made of galvanized iron, and in each case their capacity has been 
made the subject of careful calculation, to insure the full delivery of an 
adequate amount of fresh air in the room supplied by it. An inspection 
of Fig. 2 will show the course of the primary air-ducts, as they form a 
part of the foundation plans of the buildings. There will be seen also 
an extension of these air-ducts to the pavilions. In the pavilions, how- 
ever, they are merely accessories to a different system of air supply, 
arranged for those buildings, which will be described in an appropriate 
connection. It should be noted here that from all the rooms of the 
main central building adequate exhaust flues to carry off vitiated air 
lead, which are gathered together beneath the roof above, where they 
open into appropriate louvred lanterns to discharge their contents into 
the outer air. There will be an elevator from the basement to the third 
story. 
The first story (see Fig. 4) will be 18 feet high, and will contain the 
manager’s room, general reception room, officers’ and nurses’ dining 
rooms, superintendent’s and clerks’ offices, toilet rooms, and the chapel. 
The latter is octagonal in plan, with ceiling 22 feet high, and will seat 
160 persons. The plan is so arranged that the public can attend services 
in it without entering the hospital proper. 
The principal entrance to the building is through a vestibule 17 feet 
6 inches wide. This opens into a grand corridor 30 feet wide, from 
which springs the main staircase. The central portion of this corridor 
forms a rotunda, 17 feet in diameter, which is supported by cast-iron 
columns, and extends upwards to the roof, where it is surmounted by a 
glass dome light. 
The second story, 15 feet in height, is planned (see Fig. 5) to con- 
tain living rooms for the superintendent and matron, and a number of 
private rooms for paying patients. A room for a library and museum 
purposes is provided over the chapel. This room is octagonal in plan, 
40 feet in diameter, with ceiling 24 feet high, surmounted by a large 
skylight. The third story is 13 feet high, and is arranged for one ward of ten 
beds, with the necessary service rooms. Six smaller rooms for patients 
are also provided for on this floor (see Fig. 6). 
The fourth story (see Fig. 7) is intended to be devoted to dormi- 
tories for nurses, and will afford ample accommodation for thirty 
persons. 
On each floor, from the basement to the fourth story, isolated by a 
branch corridor of some length, toilet rooms are placed in the north- 
western corner of the building, provided not only with abundant cross 
ventilation by windows, but also with a special exhaust ventilating 
chimney, into which flues lead from each water-closet bowl. The walls 
of the toilet rooms are built of enameled bricks. 
In this part of the building, also, is placed a second staircase which, 
beginning at the basement, communicates with every floor. 
This building, beside providing for the various administrative offices 
and residences, the chapel and museum, and the home for nurses, will 
afford accommodations of a superior character for about 30 patients. 
The Accessory Ceiitral Building.—This building will be placed directly 
in the rear of the main central building, and be connected with it by a 
covered corridor. It will be 54 feet deep and 80 feet wide, and will 
front on Seventh Street. It will be two stories in height, with a high 
mansard roof, containing a full story and an attic. It will have a base- 
ment (see Fig. 2), in which will be placed the boilers, engine, coal vaults, 
and fan blowers for supplying the air currents, brought through ducts 
leading from large ornamental shafts in the grounds adjacent, to the 
general system of fresh air ducts of the institution. 
The first story (see Fig. 3) will contain a kitchen, preparing room, 
bakery, store rooms and refrigerators. 
The second story (see Fig. 4) will contain the laundry ironing room, 
employees’ dining room, and apothecary’s shop. 
The third story (see Fig. 5) will be occupied exclusively for dormi- 
tories for employees, with necessary toilet rooms. 
In the attic (see Fig. 6) there will be a disinfecting room. 
The plans of this building are prepared, but the work has not yet 
been commenced. The estimated cost is $35,000. It will be essential 
for the proper carrying on of the work of the institution when all its 
parts are in use. 
For the more pressing immediate needs of the work incident to the 
opening of one pavilion for hospital uses, sufficient facilities will be ob- 
tained by fitting up some of the rooms in the basement of the main 
central building. 
The Pavilions.—These contain the main or common wards, and the 
necessary service rooms. There are two of them, alike in every respect, 
one on each side of the main central building, and distant from it 40 
feet. The extreme width of the front or service portion of each pavil- 
ion is 60 feet, and the total depth of the pavilion is 150 feet. The por- 
tion containing the wards is of two stories, with a basement. The base- 32 
ment is 9 feet high, entirely above ground, fully lighted by windows 
uniform in number with those of the floors above, with concrete floors, 
plastered ceilings, and whitewashed walls. It will contain nothing 
except the apparatus for heating and ventilation. 
The wards proper are rectangular, 96 feet long and 32 feet wide. 
Their height is 15 feet. There is one window7 to every two beds ; the 
windows on the two sides are placed directJy opposite each other, and 
in the upper part of each window-frame is a transom sash. The long 
axis of the wards runs nearly north and south, and the wards have a 
full and uninterrupted exposure upon the east, south and west sides 
respectively. Each ward is calculated to contain twenty-four beds, and 
in that case would provide nearly 2,000 cubic feet of air space, 128 square 
feet of floor area, and a wall space of 8 feet, including windows, to each 
bed. A constant and copious supply of fresh air is provided for by reg- 
isters placed in the walls between each window, which communicate 
with flues that lead to external openings in the basement walls eight feet 
above the surface of the ground. These flues also communicate with 
heating chambers, enclosing steam coils, placed in the basement, and, 
by suitable valves, the air current may be made to pass through these 
heating chambers, or directly upwards into the ward above. The tem- 
perature may thus be regulated, but in no case ran the volume of air be 
interfered with. These flues likewise communicate with the air ducts 
leading from the central fans described in connection with the main 
central building, by means of which the power of forcing or accelerating 
the ventilation of the wards will be supplied whenever the natural 
powers of aspiration, upon which the ward system of air supply depends, 
is found deficient. 
For the removal of vitiated air from the wards equally complete 
provision is made by means of two great aspirating chimneys in each 
pavilion. From apertures, suitably guarded, beneath the foot of each 
bed in the floor of the wards, and from a series of registers placed near 
the ceiling of the lower ward, and along the center of the ceiling of the 
upper ward, foul air ducts lead that converge to common ducts that 
finally empty into great aspirating chimneys, where, by means of steam 
coils, a constant force of aspiration is maintained. The arrangement of 
the floor foul-air flues of the lower ward is well shown in the plan of the 
pavilions contained in Fig. 4. 
In addition to these, four open fireplaces are provided in each ward, 
one in each of its corners. Each of these becomes, when in use, an 
accessory aspirating flue, 
The wards open at their northern end into a wide corridor, which is 
enlarged so as to form a convenient sitting-room for convalescents. 
Around this cluster the service rooms for each ward. The arrangement 
is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. On either side this corridor leads to a wide, 
open balcony upon which the staircases and the elevator shaft that con- 
nect the floors open. The isolation of each floor is thus accomplished, 
there being no communication between the floors of the pavilions with- 
out first passing into the open air of the balcony. Each ward is pro- 33 
vided with water-closets, lavatory, bath-room, nurse’s day-room, linen 
closet, scullery and closet for patients’ clothing, none of which com-, 
municate directly with the ward. In addition an isolating room, capa- 
ble of receiving two patients, is provided for each ward. 
In the basement of the service portion of the pavilion is provided a 
dining-room for convalescents, and a dormitory for servants, and an 
isolating room for maniacal patients. The basement corridor is contin- 
uous with the general corridor that connects all the buildings. A sepa- 
rate lift is provided, leading from the basement to the scullery of each 
ward. To this service portion of each pavilion is added a third story, in 
which is provided residence apartments for the hospital internes, also a 
small isolated ward for one patient, and a laboratory room. 
The design for the hospital contemplates additional separate build- 
ings for surgical operating purposes, for the reception and care of the 
dead, and for stables to accommodate an ambulance equipage. The 
details of all these buildings remain for future determination. THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL. 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AND EIGHTH AVENUES, 
BROOKLYN, N.Y. 
FIGURE I. THE METHODIST GENE^AI HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH ANd EIGHTH AVENUES, 
BROOKLYN, N . Y, 
FIGURE lI—FOUNDATIONS AND AIR DUCTS. THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AND EIGHTH AVENUES, 
BROOKLYN, N . Y- 
FIGURE 111 BASEMENT THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AND ElQHTH AVENUES, 
BROOKLYN, N • V. 
FIGURE IV—GROUP FLAN OF First Story. THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AN D EIGHTH AVENUES, 
brooklvN, N. y. 
FIGURE V—GROUP PlaN ofr SECOND STORY. THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AND E|GHTH AVENUES, 
BROOKLYN. N‘ Y- 
FIGURE VI—GROUP PLAN OF Third STORY THE METHODIST GENERAL HOSPITAL, 
SIXTH STREET, BET. SEVENTH AND EIGHTH AVenUES, 
BROOKLYN, N-V. 
FIGURE VII—GROUP plan OF Fourth story.