*|Tke Columbian Institute 
FOR THE 
Preservation of Health 
AND THE 
dufe of Clonic Digeageg, 
142 East 34th St, 
If m Ifmit: 
RUSSELL BROTHERS, PRINTERS, 
17, 19, zi, 23 Rose Street. 
1882. TRUSTEES. 
0. S. Marshall, 
T. N. Holden, M. D., 
James M. Hunt, 
C. 0. H. Smith, 
Prank J. Ottarson, 
Edwin H. Davis, M. D., 
Henry A. Hartt, M. D. 
OFFICERS. 
C. S. MARSHALL, President. 
HD WIN H. DAYIS, M. D., Vice President. 
C. 0. H. SMITH, Treasurer. 
T. N. HOLDEN, M. D., Secretary and Assistant Treasurer. 
HENRY A. HARTT, M. D., 
Medical Director and Physician in Chief. 
JAMES M. HUNT, Counsel. 
MEDICAL BOARD. 
Henry A. Hartt, M. D„ - - . . •. i 42 East 34th Street. 
Edwin H. Davis, M. D, - - - - .. 175 East 82d Street. 
Stephen de Wolfe, M. D., - 139 West 34th Street. 
Jas. H. Shorter, M. D., - - . . 123 East 12th Street. 
George A. Macdonald, M. D., - - - . 267 7th Street. 
T. N. Holden, M. D., - 294 East Broadway. 
Wm. T. Jenkins, M. D, 107 Lexington Ave. 
George P. Siiirmer, M. D., - 359 West 42d Street. TO THE MEDICAL FACULTY. 
The Medical Board of the Columbian Institute have 
issued this publication, after a full examination and veri- 
fication of the facts, and with an entire concurrence in the 
views and principles which it embodies. Profoundly im- 
pressed with the necessity and value of the enterprise to 
which it relates, they have watched the progress thereof 
amid difficulties and discouragements with unabated solici- 
tude ; and, now, when a solid foundation has been laid, and 
a nucleus procured in which its work may be satisfactorily 
commenced, they gladly embrace the opportunity to iden- 
tify themselves with its fortunes, and to labor for its 
advancement, and complete development into the magni- 
ficent structure which was originally proposed. The need 
of its agencies, properly applied, under the supervision of 
medical knowledge and skill has long been felt, as you 
know, by the profession ; while thousands of sufferers, rich 
and poor, are waiting in breathless anxiety for its estab- 
lishment. It appeals, therefore, with irresistible force to 
medical men, and to all of every vocation and name who 
feel an interest in the relief of human suffering. The 
Board especially desire that the Institute shall be made 
thoroughly and permanently professional by enlisting the 
Faculty as its chief owners and controllers through sub- 
scriptions to its stock department. 
order of the Board, 
T. FT. HOLDEN, M. D., 
Secretary. PROSPECTUS. 
The Institute is organized under tire general laws of the 
State of New York, with a capital of $25,000 (to be in- 
creased), divided into 1,250 shares of $2O each, so that it is 
a regularly authorized corporation. 
The benefits of the Institute may be enjoyed by all classes. 
The rich can avail themselves of them by paying such sums 
as are deemed wise by the officers; those having but small 
means will not be excluded on that account, but will be re- 
quired to pay some remuneration for treatment; the poor 
will receive as much attention as other patients, free of 
cost, the charitable department being a permanent feature 
of the Institute. 
The agencies of the Institute are thrown open to the 
faculty of New York, for the benefit of their office patients. 
In this way every physician in the city has at his command 
all the special appliances which ho requires for the cure of 
chronic diseases, to be used by experts, in accordance with 
his instructions, and under the rules of the most delicate 
professional etiquette. 
A portion of its rooms will be set aside for resident 
patients, who may desire to be treated by their own phy- 
sicians unconnected with it in an official capacity, who will 
enjoy the benefit of all the remedial agencies that it affords, 
with constant attention, and without any interference by 
the Medical Board, except to enforce an observance of its 
rules. 
The by-laws have been so framed and adopted as to place 
all matters of a medical nature, and those involving any 
question of professional ethics, exclusively within the juris- 
diction of the Medical Board. 
The Institute comprehends, in its purposes and design, 
every remedial agency and all forms of medical and surgi- 
cal treatment known to medical science. Already it con- 
tains every kind of bath and all other appliances necessary 
for its work. 
The Board, as at present constituted, includes specialists 
in general chronic diseases, in.general surgery, in orthopedic 
and uterine surgery, in medical gynecology, in diseases of 
the throat, skin, eye and ear, and of the nervous system, 
and in surgical electricity. ITS ESTABLISHMENT, 
5 
The Institute is established on a broad humanitarian and 
scientific basis, and it will be the desire of the gentlemen 
who preside over its various departments to increase its use- 
fulness and efficiency as rapidly and thoroughly as public 
and professional support and encouragement will warrant. 
ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 
A proposition was made some time ago to establish in the 
City of Hew York an institution, on the broadest profes- 
sional and scientific basis, for the cure of chronic diseases. 
It was received with great favor by the medical faculty, 
and by a large body of citizens at a public meeting which 
was called by the Mayor, and a number of other prominent 
gentlemen representing different professions; which was 
presided over by Everett P. Wheeler, Esq., and which was 
addressed by him ; by Chancellor Crosby ; by E. H. Davis, 
M. D., one of the founders of the Hew York Medical College, 
and the first professor of materia medica therein; by the 
Eev. Edward McGlynn, D. D., of St. Stephen’s Church • and 
by Henry A. Hartt, M. D., the originator of the movement. 
A committee was appointed on that occasion to carry for- 
ward the enterprise, which, after much deliberation, decided 
that its benefits should be extended equally to the rich and 
the poor; that, while its main object should ever be the 
cure of disease, it should include in its beneficent work the 
preservation -of health; that it should be founded and 
managed by a joint stock association; and that it should 
be divided into two sections, which should be furnished 
alike with remedies and implements, and supplied with 
equal medical skill; one paying, the other charitable; one 
established and sustained by the funds of the association, 
the other by donations and legacies. 
After the usual difficulties and delays which attend the 
inauguration of works of magnitude for the benefit of man- 
kind, the institution is now in operation at 142 East 34th 
Street. It proposes not merely to relieve exacerbations, 
but to cure all curable chronic diseases ; and it proposes to 
demonstrate by incontestable facts the entire curability, by 
orthodox and scientific methods, of a. large majority of 
these diseases, and even of those among them which, from 
various causes easily understood, have been generally 
abandoned, not only by ordinary practitioners, but also by 6 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
physicians of eminence and skill in other branches of 
practice, as utterly hopeless and unmanageable. It pro- 
poses, as far as its influence may reach, to vindicate the art 
of medicine from the miserable slanders which are hurled 
against it from every quarter, and to show that it is not the 
uncertain and deceptive ignis fatuus which it is so often 
represented to be, but that it is a true and steady light to 
guide and save us when lost in the dark and dreary laby- 
rinths of suffering and pain. It proposes to show that the 
poisons of rheumatism, gout, rheumatic gout, and malaria 
are disarmed of their terrors, because their sure and infal- 
lible antidotes have been found ; and that the chronic con- 
gestions produced by them, as well as those that arise from 
other causes, in the throat, spine, joints, and in the liver, 
kidneys, lungs and other internal organs, including bron- 
chitis, asthma, catarrh, dyspepsia, albuminuria, gastro- 
dynia, and so forth, as well as affections of the skin and 
nervous system, and those which are classed under the 
general head of gynecology, can, in a vast proportion of 
cases, under proper conditions, and in a reasonable time, be 
thoroughly and perfectly cured. 
The fundamental idea of the institute is that the cure of 
chronic diseases demands a wise and skillful combination of 
internal and external treatment, and, therefore, it provides 
Turkish, Russian and Roman baths; all kinds of medicated 
vapor, sulphur, mercurial and iodine baths, and every 
description of fumigation; massage; Swedish movements; 
inhalation;with electro-magnetism and galvanism, either 
separately, or in water, air, vapor, or fumigation baths. 
The neglect of the use of these agencies by the regular 
faculty, and the virtual surrender of them into the hands 
of medical men who have substituted hygienic crudities for 
the art of medicine, or of ignorant charlatans, both of whom 
have invariably claimed that their dietetic methods and 
favorite appliances were the grand, sufficient, and only 
means of cure, have led to a general divorce from each 
other, in the popular mind, of remedies which science has 
joined together. From the nature of these external forces, 
physicians, for the most part, cannot properly and safely 
avail themselves of them unless they are proffered to them 
in a public and professional institution ; and this fact sup- 
plies the only excuse for their past disuse by the profession. 
The manly and generous course pursued by the medical ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 
7 
faculty of New York in their almost unanimous indorsement 
of the Institute in its inception, furnishes a satisfactory 
guarantee that now, when it is established, and has thrown 
open its doors for the benefit of their office patients, with the 
assurance that, as soon as it shall be sufficiently developed, 
a portion of its rooms will be reserved for the accommoda- 
tion of resident patients who may desire to be treated by 
them within its walls; and when the opportunity is afforded 
them of becoming stockholders, and thereby part owners 
and controllers, they will come forward at once and give it 
their entire confidence and cordial co-operation and support. 
The friends of the Institute have reason to rejoice 
and give thanks to God for this auspicious commencement 
of its important task. It has reached a stage in which it 
can confidently appeal to the wisdom of the capitalist, and 
to the sympathy of the philanthropist. Organized under 
the laws of the State, with a board of trustees and a medi- 
cal board ; equipped with every kind of bath and all other 
auxiliaries necessary for its work; constructed and man- 
aged upon a plan wffiich gives every physician, naturally 
and necessarily, an interest in its professional success, and 
affords him an opportunity of enjoying its medical facilities 
and of participating in its financial advantages; standing 
alone, without a rival, with thousands of sufferers, rich and 
poor, in the city and throughout the country, who will hail 
the announcement of its establishment as that of a modern 
JBethesda; it requires no prophetic vision to read its destiny, 
for it holds within itself the promise and pledge of a certain 
triumph, and the full realization and accomplishment of its 
pecuniary, scientific and humanitarian objects. It needs 
only now that those wffio understand its history and are 
interested in its efforts, shall stand by it for a time, and 
sustain it not only with subscriptions to its stock, but also 
with donations, that it may be able to meet the demands 
made upon its charitable department. 
The following letters are inserted in consequence of their 
bearing upon the latter point. They are published with 
the consent of the writer : ,New yoke, July 11, 1882. 
Dear Doctor: 31 St. Mark’s Place. 
The bearer of this, a member of a sick relief society, of 
which I am the physician in charge, had a luxation of the 
shoulder joint on the sth of last mouth. It was immediate- 8 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
ly reduced at tbe New York Hospital, but the weakness 
resulting from the effects of the injury and reduction ren- 
ders him unable to work. 
Have you in your Columbian Institute, the inauguration 
of which you have been kind enough to communicate to 
me recently,, the facilities for treating just such cases as 
these? For I think that systematic massage with, per- 
haps, regular hot air or vapor baths, would benefit the con- 
dition of this patient’s shoulder joint greatly. 
By replying, you would greatly oblige, 
Yours truly, Geo. W. Eachel, M. D. 
New York, July 11, 1882. 
Hear Doctor : 31 St. Mark’s Place. 
Your favor in reply to my letter to you has been received 
and read with satisfaction by me. I am really very glad 
that you have established the institution which has been 
the goal of your endeavors for many years. 
I am loath to prescribe any rules to the house surgeon, 
who supervises the treatment of those cases to which that 
of my patient belongs. 
A vapor bath, followed by active and passive resistant 
motions of the arm in the direction of backward, upward, 
and lateral rotation, and finishing up with good massage 
of all the muscles of the shoulder joint especially, seems to 
me to be indicated. Very truly yours, 
George W. Eachel, M. D. 
RECEPTION. 
Prior to the establishment of the Institute, a reception 
was held by its organizers, a report of which is appended. 
It was announced by the following circular: 
New York, Nov. 23, 1881. 
A reception by the Trustees, Officers and Medical Board 
of the Columbian Institute, w ill be held at the St. Nicholas 
Hotel, Parlor 233, Broadway and Spring Street, on Wed- 
nesday, the 30th inst., at 8 o’clock p. m. 
A paper on the nature, objects and necessity of the en- 
terprise will be presented by Henry A. Hartt, M. D., and 
remarks made by Eev. E. S, Storrs, I). D., Prof. E. H. 
Davis, M. D., Eev. J. P. Newman, D. I)., Win. J. Curtis, 
Esq., Eev. W. F. Morgan, D. D., Eev. A. P. Putnam, D. D., 
and others. 9 
THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
The President, on taking the chair, said ; I am happy 
to welcome so large a number of gentlemen to this recep- 
tion. My own connection with the Institute arises from 
personal experience of some of its proposed advantages, 
and I am persuaded that it is a necessity of the age for 
the relief of human suffering. It seems strange to me 
that medical science which, during the last century, has 
made such wonderful progress in many directions, has 
not provided for the cure of chronic maladies. Pour 
attention is now invited to a discussion of the nature of 
a new enterprise for this purpose, undertaken on a basis 
which joins in indissoluble bonds the elements of profit 
and charity, and which is equally fitted to attract the man 
of business and the philanthropist. I trust, therefore, 
that you will all find, in the feast which we furnish this 
evening, something adapted to your tastes, and that you 
will manifest, before we part, your appreciation of the 
good things which we set before you, in a manner befit- 
ting the occasion. 
After the remarks of the president, the secretary read 
a number of letters highly commendatory of the enter- 
prise. m , _ 
St. Thomas Rectory, 
1 West 53d St., Nov. 30, 1881. 
My Dear Dr. Hartt : 
As I had reason to fear, engagements which are imper- 
ative will hinder me from attending the meeting this 
evening, to which I was so kindly invited. I need not 
say that I regret the necessity which prevents me from 
co-operating with you and other gentlemen, in further- 
ance of an institution which promises so much for the 10 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
relief of human suffering. I feel assured that your 
scheme is such, that in the end it will carry with it uni- 
versal approbation and interest. 
Very sincerely yours, 
William F. Morgan. 
New York, Nov. 30, 1881. 
My Dear Dr. Hartt : 
I regret very much that, in consequence of severe in- 
disposition, I shall not be able to attend the reception 
this evening. My opinion, expressed long ago, in refer- 
ence to the necessity of your enterprise, and of the great 
benefits it will confer upon the profession, and upon hu- 
manity at large, remains unchanged. I trust the time 
has arrived when the capitalists will come forward and 
crown your labors with success. 
Ever yours truly, 
E. 11. Davis, M. D. 
175 East 82d St. 
2 West 46th St., N. Y., Nov. 29, 1881. 
Henry A. Hartt, M. D. 
My Dear Sir: Your notice of the reception of the 
Columbian Institute is received. 
I regret to say that the sore throat from which I have 
suffered for the past month, continues with severity 
enough to forbid exposure in the night air, and so I shall 
be deprived of the pleasure of meeting with you to- 
morrow night. 
This I regret the more, in view of the importance of 
the object contemplated, and the promise that the assem- 
bly Avill present many attractions of an elevating and 
edifying character. With many warm regards for your 
success, I am, Yours affectionately, 
Thomas Armitage. 11 
THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
Mr. C. O. H. Smith, Secretary Columbian Institute: 
After reading with great pleasure the prospectus, also 
the book entitled “ Columbian Institute,” by Dr. Henry 
A. Hartt, I hereby endorse his views, and hope the time 
is near at hand when such an institute as he proposes can 
be founded, where any regular physician can place his 
patients, and have the care and control of their treat- 
ment, with the assistance of the many remedial appli- 
ances that it would be supplied with. I earnestly com- 
mend it to those who desire to aid suffering humanity. 
73 East 53d St., N. Y. 
Yours sincerely, 
C. W. Sanders, M. D. 
At the request of the president, Dr. Hartt proceeded 
to read a 
Paper 
On the Nature, Objects, and, Necessity of the Institute. 
Diseases are divided into two classes, acute and 
chronic. Acute diseases generally begin suddenly, are 
more or less violent in character, and run their course 
rapidly to a favorable or an unfavorable issue. By 
chronic diseases are meant diseases of long standing. 
. o o 
They sometimes come on in an obscure manner, and in a 
passive form, but more frequently they are the results of 
acute diseases which have only partially yielded to treat- 
ment. They require, in addition to appropriate internal 
remedies, the employment of a number of external agen- 
cies and appliances, which are not needed in the manage- 
ment of acute diseases, which no physician can com- 
mand in his own office, or at the residences of his pa- 
tients, and which can never be made available to the 
faculty at large and to the people universally, as long as 12 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
they shall he restricted to private institutions conducted 
merely for purposes of gain. 
The general hospitals are intended only for acute dis- 
eases, and, therefore, are not fitted, either hy their con- 
struction or equipment, for the proper and successful 
treatment of chronic maladies, and rightfully reject them. 
There are a few establishments which treat specific 
forms of chronic disease, such as the Woman’s Hospital, 
the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled, and infirma- 
ries for the eye and ear; but the only institutions which 
habitually treat all forms of chronic disease are Charity 
Hospital and the dispensaries. 
The Hospital is an institution of the city, under the 
direction of the Board of Charities and Correction, and is 
practically a branch of Bellevue, for the treatment of 
chronic cases. It is situated on Blackwell’s Island, and 
is carried on at an expenditure of about one hundred and 
thirty-four thousand dollars a year. It is not furnished 
with special agencies, and it is well understood that it 
aims to afford temporary relief, rather than to effect radi- 
cal and permanent cures. By means of an earnest and 
laborious effort, an appropriation might, I doubt not, be 
obtained from the city government to supply it with all the 
necessary appendages for the fulfilment of its object; but 
its locality must forever form an insurmountable obstacle 
thereto. A large proportion of patients who suffer from 
chronic diseases can go to and fro, and are, therefore, fit 
subjects for office or dispensary practice. A great munic- 
ipal institution, then, for the treatment and cure of these 
affections should embrace in its provisions the chief dis- 
pensary of the city. But a dispensary on Blackwell’s 
Island is an impossibility. Besides, this class of diseases 
presents the most intricate problems in medicine, which THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
13 
demand for tlieir solution the ripest experience, and most 
consummate skill. But physicians of experience and skill 
are generally engaged in extensive .practice, and could 
not give a sufficient portion of their time and attention to 
an institution so remote from their regular field of labor, 
and so difficult of access. 
The dispensaries, also, are totally unfurnished with 
the agencies and appliances which are essential in the 
treatment of chronic diseases. 
The principal medical officer of one of the most promi- 
nent in this city, after candidly admitting that it did not 
profess to do more than relieve exacerbations, remarked, 
that there were fifteen physicians connected with it, all 
of whom were engaged in private practice, and yet gave 
their services without remuneration. There was not one 
among them who could afford to devote more than an 
hour a day to the task, while each had a class of from 
sixty to seventy patients. Who, then, can marvel if, to 
the popular cry, “No cure, no pay,” they give the re- 
sponse, “No pay, no cure ?” 
Now, we propose to establish in this metropolis an in- 
stitution, the first of its kind in the history of the world, 
which shall truly represent the art of medicine in these 
modern times. 
We propose to furnish it with hygienic and curative 
agencies of eVery description—with baths, medicated and 
unmedicated, hot and cold water, Turkish, Russian, Ro- 
man, thermo-electric, sulphur, mercurial, and turpentine; 
with instruments for inhalation, for rubbing and passive 
motion, and for the administration of electro-magnetism 
and galvanism; and with every apparatus and means for 
physical culture. We propose to have at our command, 
both for internal and external use, all the medicines that 14 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
nature has given us in the animal, vegetable, and mineral 
kingdoms, by whomsoever discovered or recommended, 
which shall be able to render us material and efficient 
aid. 
We purpose to have a department for every form of cur- 
able chronic disease, with a thoroughly competent medi- 
cal man at its head, and on the staff an eminent scientist, 
who shall restrict himself to the business of research. 
The external appliances of the institution will be placed 
under the management of trained attendants, who will be 
subject at all times to the surveillance and direction of 
the Medical Board. 
The original design was to found an institution mainly 
for the cure of those who labor under the double mis- 
fortune of chronic disease and poverty; but before much 
progress had been made, it was decided that its benefits 
should be equally extended to wealthy patients; and, 
furthermore, that, inasmuch as it would be equipped 
with every kind of bath and gymnastic apparatus, the 
scope of its operations should be enlarged so as to in- 
clude among them the preservation of health. 
It is divided into two sections. The first is assigned 
to those who use baths and other agencies for hygienic 
purposes, or as luxuries, and who are able to pay for 
them the regular rates, and to wealthy patients afflicted 
with chronic diseases. It is established by means of a 
joint-stock association, with a capital of twenty-five 
thousand dollars, divided into shares of twenty dollars 
each. A prominent financier, in a paper prepared by 
him, says : “In a financial aspect, the institution will 
afford, in its paying section, an excellent opportunity for 
profitable investment by returning dividends on the capi- 
tal stock. An estimate of receipts and expenses, based THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
15 
upon fifty resident and seventy-five non-resident patients, 
shows that with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars 
the net profits give the following liberal percentage to 
the stockholders: 
RECEIPTS. 
50 Resident Patients, at $25 per week, . $65,000 
75 Visiting Patients, “ $8 ' “ “ . 31,200 
196,200 
EXPENSES. 
Bent of Building, one year, . . . $6,000 
House Expenses, per week, $5OO, . . 26,000 
Depreciation of Furniture, 12.j per cent, 1,563 
Advertising, $5,000.’ Contingent Ex- 
penses, $5,000, ..... 10,000 
$43,563 
Balance to the credit of Institute, . $52,637 
No allowance is herein provided for the salaries of the 
medical officers and the general superintendent. But 
after a sufficient reduction shall have been made for this 
purpose, a large amount will still remain for distribution 
among the investors. 
The second section is set apart for those who can afford 
to pay only small sums, and for those who cannot afford 
to pay anything. It is sustained by a separate fund sup- 
plied by charitable donations and legacies. In conse- 
quence of its thorough equipment, it will inevitably 
attract, in multitudes, the poor who shall be suffering 
from chronic diseases, and by restoring to them the power 
to labor, will confer upon them and upon society a boon 
the worth of which no words or figures can adequately 16 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
describe. I have been informed by the founder of the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to' Animals, that a 
sum amounting to more than half a million of dollars has 
been contributed during the last thirteen years to that 
laudable charity. May we not hope that the disciples of 
Him who said, “Ye are of more value than many spar- 
rows,” will give to this department of our institute a yet 
more liberal endowment ? 
All the special agencies and facilities of the Institute 
will be thrown open to the Faculty of New York and its 
vicinity for the benefit of their office patients. A portion 
also of its room will be reserved for resident patients, 
who may desire to be treated by their own physicians, 
unconnected with it in an official capacity. 
It has been my design from the beginning that the In- 
stitute shall be, not only cosmopolitan, non-political, and 
non-sectarian, but also thoroughly professional in its 
standing and character. Its nature, and the plan upon 
which it is founded, will create a reciprocal interest be- 
tween it and the Faculty, and make them mutually de- 
pendent upon each other. Aiming, as it will, at a finan- 
cial as well as a scientific success, it must rely, to a great 
extent, upon the confidence and co-operation of the pro- 
fession, and whosoever its governors may be, unless they 
shall be smitten with suicidal fatuity, they will never 
forfeit these inestimable advantages; while, on the other 
hand, the benefits which it proffers the Faculty in the 
use of its agencies, and in the reception and general care 
of patients under their treatment, together with the 
opportunity it offers them through subscriptions to the 
stock department, of becoming part owners and directors, 
will bind them to it with cords which will never be 
broken. iUready, two hundred of the medical men of THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
17 
New York, after a limited canvass, have become sub- 
scribers. I hope it will not be long before all of them, 
without exception, will see that their duty to themselves, 
as well as to others, demands that they shall combine 
with me, and those associated with me, to stamp it inef- 
faceably with the professional seal, so that no stain of 
charlatanism shall ever be permitted to pollute it, nor the 
accursed spirit of cliqueism to enter its hallowed portals. 
The undertaking, in its original form, was approved 
and indorsed by four-fifths of the physicians and sur- 
geons of this city, in the following terms : 
The undersigned, members of the Medical Faculty of 
New York, recognize the necessity of the Hospital pro- 
posed by Hr. Hartt for the cure of chronic diseases, both 
for the benefit of the poor who are suffering therefrom, 
and of the profession, as affording an opportunity to 
medical students to examine their nature and treatment. 
We, therefore, earnestly recommend the immediate estab- 
lishment of such an institution in this city. 
Founder of Woman's Hospital, and President 
J. Marion Sims, M. H., 
of Am. Med. Association. 
Prof. Path, and Prac. Med. Got. Phi/, and 
Alonzo Clark, M. H., 
And eight hundred and thirty-two others. 
Sur., Pres. Fac., and Vis. Ph. Bel. Jlosp. 
A physician who resides in Saratoga Springs, and who 
is the proprietor of a building which was erected to 
serve the purpose of a sanitarium, proposed to me, a few 
months ago, that it should be converted into a branch of 
this institution, and said that, if the offer should be ac- 
cepted, he and his friends would purchase stock to the 18 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
amount of eighteen thousand dollars. X consulted imme- 
diately all the members of the County Medical Society 
residing in Saratoga Springs, who received the proposal 
with great favor, and signed unanimously the subjoined 
indorsement: 
“We, the undersigned, members of the Medical Fac- 
ulty of Saratoga Springs, after a careful examination of 
the principles and purposes of the Columbian Institute 
for the Preservation of Health and the Cure of Chronic 
Diseases, recently organized in the City of New York, 
have great pleasure in giving it our full and unqualified 
indorsement. We regard it as a necessity of the age, 
furnishing the profession with agencies and appliances 
which are absolutely essential to the proper and success- 
ful treatment, of many forms of chronic disease, and 
which can only be made available to the Faculty at 
large by putting them into public institutions under the 
charge of thoroughly educated and authorized medical 
men. 
“ And we hail with profound satisfaction a proposition 
which has been made to found at once in this city a 
branch of this organization. New York is not more 
certainly the proper locality for the primary institution 
than Saratoga, with its world renowned mineral waters, 
is for the first great branch. To this famous summer re- 
sort, the patients subjected to treatment during the win- 
ter in New York would gladly come in the season when 
even those who are in health are wont to make their 
escape from the hot and impure atmosphere of that me- 
tropolis, while others might prefer it at any and at all 
times, in consequence of the fame of its springs, its quiet- 
ness and manifold advantages. 
“We, therefore, earnestly hope that the necessary funds THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
19 
may soon be furnished by capitalists to raise the original 
institution to its ideal dimensions, and to establish a 
branch here on a scale commensurate with its importance. 
The remarkable and inseparable combination which the 
Columbian Institute in its nature affords of the elements 
of profit and charity so generally incongruous and antag- 
onistic in the affairs of this world, commends it to the 
common wisdom as well as to the Christian benevolence 
of mankind.” 
In a letter which I lately received from the Hon. Israel 
Washburn, Jr., ex-governor of Maine, he says : “I marvel 
that institutions for the treatment and cure of chronic 
diseases have not, long ago been established in different 
cities.” 
The authorities of Mount Sinai Hospital, in a report 
published some time ago, admitted its inability to receive 
chronic cases, and affirmed the necessity of an institution 
devoted exclusively to their care and treatment. And in 
the New York Herald of the third of this month there is 
an account of an interview between a reporter of that 
paper and Mr. Ludlam, the superintendent of the New 
York Hospital, in which the latter gentleman is repre- 
sented as saying: “For the treatment of chronic cases 
there is a great want in this city. With the exception of 
the Home for Incurables, there is no place except Belle- 
vue where such sufferers can be sent. We attend to 
many here, but such cases mean months of lingering pain 
and constantly impending dissolution. With the amount 
of business they have at Bellevue, it is impossible to give 
chronic cases the attention they deserve, and an institu- 
tion especially for such cases is a great desideratum.” 
The absolute necessity of an institution of this nature, 
which shall truly represent the highest culture and the THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE 
best skill of the profession, is thus admitted on every 
side. 
It is seen that it will supply a great deficiency—that it 
will confer a new and invaluable blessing upon the com- 
munity,-. and upon all the sufferers whencesoever they 
may come who may need its help ; that it will furnish im- 
portant accommodations and benefits to the medical pro- 
fession at large ; that it will relieve the general hospitals 
from incessant applications which they cannot accept, 
and which, nevertheless, it is painful to reject; that by a 
formal connection with the surrounding dispensaries it 
will afford them the use of its agencies, and thus, with 
other practicable changes in their arrangements, enable 
them to perform effective service, and fulfil the beneficent 
purposes for which they were established ; and that it 
may lead the way for the release of Charity Hospital 
from its present hopeless occupation, and for its conver- 
sion into a Home for Incurables, for which its site on the 
Island so eminently fits it. 
We have taken all the preliminary steps and laid 
a foundation upon which we ' ask you to assist us in our 
endeavor to rear a superstructure which shall be com- 
mensurate with the great interests which it is intended 
to subserve. It is no longer a scheme of a solitary mind; 
but a scheme sustained and commended by all classes and 
professions, and now adopted and managed by a body 
of intelligent and influential citizens, and a board of 
medical men, chosen as specialists of great ability, who, 
already, have attained a high position, and who only re- 
quire an opportunity on a large scale to become dis- 
tinguished as representatives in their several depart- 
ments. Yet we do not propose to build at once our 
ideal structure. We believe in growth, and, therefore, 21 
THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
we have, at the outset, limited our capital to twenty-five 
thousand dollars. The elements of success in the paying 
section are so large and manifold, that nothing but the 
most reckless mismanagement could prevent our stock 
from reaching the highest point in the market. You 
will pardon me, however, if, as a member of a humani- 
tarian profession, I leave to* others the further discussion 
of financial matters, and turn for a moment to a more 
congenial theme. 
It is more than six years since I began my public 
efforts for the attainment of this object. I have toiled 
by day and night, in season and out of season, through 
evil and through good report, animated by a quenchless 
faith that I should live to reap the fruit of my labors, 
and see the institution, in all the grandeur of its com- 
pleteness, in successful operation. My inspiration has 
come, not from the hope of reward either in the form of 
money or honor, but from the cries of the despairing 
sufferers ringing forever in my ears, and from the un- 
wavering assurance I have felt that their deliverance was 
at hand. But why should it take so long a period in this 
era of progress to carry out a project of such incalculable 
value ? Why should the guests who are invited to this 
luxurious feast of beneficence so closely follow the ex- 
ample of those who were bidden to a great supper in the 
olden time ? “ And they all with one consent began to 
make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a 
piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray 
thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought 
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them ; I pray thee 
have me excused. And another said, I have married a 
wife; and therefore I cannot come.” Alas! in these 
latter days we have increased the number of excuses. 22 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE, 
For one in tlie vigor of youth said, I am overburdened 
with engagements in benevolent enterprises ; I pray tbee 
liave me excused. And another said, I am growing old, 
and 10, these fifty years I have wrought in the vineyard of 
the Lord, and now I am weary and worn; I pray thee 
have me excused. 
And are these, then, verily the disciples of that exalted 
personage who came down from heaven to teach us that 
all our talents and possessions are gifts from his bountiful 
hand, which we should use, as his stewards, for the 
benefit of the race, for whose salvation, in the enthusiasm 
of his divine love, he endured a life of poverty, and died 
upon the cross ? Can any one imagine that if, during 
his earthly ministrations, a proposition fraught with 
blessings to the world had been presented to him, he 
would have turned away with cold indifference, or ex- 
cused himself on the ground that he was overtaxed with 
work ? His nature was perfectly human, as well as per- 
fectly divine, and “in all points he was tempted as we 
are, and yet without sin.’,’ In the synagogue and in the 
temple, in the street and on the mountain top, he 
labored assiduously day by day, not only in instructing 
the common people, who heard him gladly, but also in 
wrestling with the cavils and sophistries of his wily and 
dexterous opponents. 
On one occasion, we are told, he was wearied with his 
journey, and sat thus on the well about the sixth hour. A 
woman came to draw water ; a woman who was living in 
sin. His great heart yearned over her in her ignorance 
and weakness, and after making himself known to her 
through his divine omniscience, he propounded to her 
that sublime truth which constitutes the basis of all 
genuine piety: “ God is a spirit, and they who worship THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
23 
him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” O, if he 
had yielded to his feeling of weariness, and simply re- 
mained silent, what a privation would the world have 
sustained in the absence from the writings of the Evan- 
gelists of the record of that momentous interview ! And 
if, at that memorable hour when the women brought 
young children unto him that he should bless them, 
he had allowed his disciples to protect him from their 
importunity, instead of rebuking them with those immor- 
tal words : “ Suffer the little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven,” what a blot would have been cast upon the 
revelation of his grace, and what a rich and perennial foun- 
tain of consolation would have been denied to humanity 
throughout all the ages ! A man is never more entirely 
in antagonism to the spirit and genius of Christianity than 
when he refuses to listen to an overture for the improve- 
ment of the condition of mankind because it is new. We 
should apply to all such cases the rule of the great 
apostle : “Be careful to entertain strangers, for thereby 
some have entertained angels unawares.” And when, 
through the pressure of engagements, or from any other 
cause, we cannot do much to help them forward, we 
should not forget that “He who giveth a cup of cold 
water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall receive 
a disciple’s reward.” Nor should they who have grown 
gray in this service of mercy, excuse themselves on ac- 
count of their age ; for they have reached that point, in 
many instances, when, by the acquisition of knowledge, 
experience, reputation and wealth, they are just prepared 
to execute their highest and noblest achievements. They 
have gained, perchance, an accumulation of force which 
they should be proud to expend in the cause of benevo- THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
lence to the last moment of their earthly existence. By 
what authority shall they refuse any post of honor or 
duty, till he who assigns it shall summon them away to a 
loftier sphere, and say to them : “ Inasmuch as ye have 
done it to one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me.” 
Abstract of the Speech of the Rev. R. S. Storrs, I). I). 
I did not expect that I should be called upon to speak 
first on this occasion. Coming, as I do, from the other 
side of the water, I consider myself only a pilgrim here, 
as we do not propose to annex New York to Brooklyn 
yet. 
Dr. Hartt has indulged in some severe strictures upon 
those who treat his appeals with indifference; but in his 
reference to the Scriptures, I think he must have over- 
looked the passage in which our Saviour is represented 
as saying to his disciples: “ Come, ye yourselves, apart 
into a desert place, and rest awhile;” “for,” it is added, 
“there were many coming and going, and they had no 
leisure so much as to eat.” 
When my attention was called by Dr. Hartt, some time 
ago, to this enterprise, of which he has just given to us 
such a grand and lucid presentation, I saw at once its 
great merit, yet I feared that it was on a scale too broad 
and extensive to be readily carried out; but the more I 
have thought of it, the better I have liked it, and now I 
am convinced that it is entirely practicable, and eminently 
worthy of the support of all who take an interest in the 
relief of suffering humanity. 
The energy and self-sacrificing devotion with which 25 
THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
the Doctor has prosecuted it for years, amid difficulties 
and discouragements, have excited my admiration. He 
has given me a new inspiration; he has taught me a lesson 
which I shall never forget; lam greatly indebted to him, 
and, therefore, I am here. 
The best Avay, perhaps, to realize how great a blessing 
an institution such as is here proposed would be to the 
world, is to suppose that it had been established and in 
operation ten or twenty years ; could anything induce us 
to give it up? Would the people, for any considera- 
tion, forego its benefits? It would be a Bethesda, a 
fountain of health, the very existence of which would 
inspire new hope and joy in the hearts of thousands of 
disconsolate sufferers, and to which they would repair in 
multitudes from every quarter. 
Speech of the Rev. J P. Newman, D. I). 
I do not know that there is much left for me to say, 
since the object of this meeting has been so fully set 
forth. I may as well, perhaps, begin by stating, in reply 
to a remark which has been made, that when we want 
Brooklyn, we will go over and take it, and Dr. Storrs 
with it. 
I have known Dr. Hartt for some time, and have be- 
come deeply interested in his enterprise. But men of his 
class occupy an advanced ground, and seldom succeed in 
carrying out their projects by their own efforts alone. 
They generally require the interposition of middlemen, 
to take them by the hand on one side, and the people on 
the other, and bring them together. 
I hope Dr. Storrs will not think me heterodox when I 26 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
say, that the miraculous cures of former times were the 
results of the operation of laws which, though they were 
perfectly natural, were not understood, and that the time 
will probably come when, by the progress of science, we 
will arrive at a knowledge of those laws, and be able to 
perform similar works in the ordinary routine of med- 
ical practice. 
The proposed Institution, with others of a like char- 
acter which will inevitably grow out of it, will exert a 
powerful influence in the furtherance of this important 
end. 
In this, as in other causes, there is nothing so much to 
be dreaded and deprecated as incredulity and despair, for 
they necessarily lead to failure, surrender and stagnation. 
I admire the courage and persistence which Dr. Hartt 
displays in contending with diseases which have long 
been abandoned by others as incurable, as well as in bat- 
tling with the apathy and prejudices of the people, while 
laboring to establish this noble Institution. It is not 
often that we can put a heart under the ribs of death; 
but now we can; and there is the Hartt. I trust that he 
will soon receive from capitalists the aid to which he is 
entitled, and that he will live to complete the work which 
he has so wisely and skillfully begun. I extend to him 
my hand, my heart and my purse, and my prayer shall 
ever be that God will crown both him and the Institution 
with His heavenly benediction. 
Address of A. W. Budlong, Esq. . 
I have very little to say on this occasion, gentlemen. 
I am a business man, and making speeches is somewhat 
out of my line ; but I can say in all sincerity, that I be- THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
27 
lieve the Columbian Institute, as it is proposed by Dr. 
Hartt, is intended and calculated to supply a want much 
felt; in fact, to supply an actual necessity in our com- 
munity—in every community—-for the benefit of a large 
class of people who are now suffering from what are un- 
derstood to be incurable chronic diseases. People are 
led to believe that they are incurable because they are 
told so by the physicians who have treated them, and 
have only been able to afford temporary relief; and be- 
cause they have expended their money in every possible 
direction; have gone to all kinds of springs, and have 
tried every remedy that has been recommended by their 
friends, with the same unsatisfactory results. Now, gen- 
tlemen, that was my own experience for fourteen years, 
during all which time I was a sufferer with, I believe they 
called it, sciatica, but I would call it, agony, running all 
down through my lower limbs. I tried everything, every- 
where, but with only temporary relief. I have been laid 
up from my business for weeks and months at a time. I 
about made up my mind that I never would be any better, 
and when Dr. Hartt called to see me, through the request 
of a friend who had heard of his cures (I didn’t send for 
him), I told him it was of no use ; I didn’t believe he 
could do anything more for me than had been done ; that 
I didn’t intend that the doctors should get any more of 
my money ; that my pocket book was locked up; so there 
was no use of talking any more about it. And that was 
just the way I felt, gentlemen. The doctor talked to me 
awhile, asked me several questions in regard to my case, 
and then told me that I might keep my money and pocket 
book locked up, and might keep my sciatica, too, if I 
liked; but that I could be cured; and that he would un- 
dertake to treat me with that end in view without money 28 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
or pocket book. But, to make it short, gentlemen, I gave 
my consent for him to attend me ; and for more than a 
year now I have been able to take full charge of my busi- 
ness, I have myself been surprised at the result. I 
never expected to be in the good condition I am now; 
and I feel that I have been entirely cured. 
And now, in regard to the business part of this matter. 
While I do not entirely agree with those figures that 
were read by Dr. Hartt, I do feel very confident, on a 
purely business calculation, that this Institution can be 
established on a business footing immediately, and that in 
such a way as would be productive of an immediate profit 
on the amount invested. I believe that it could be com- 
menced with a small part of the capital, invested in such 
a way as to afford, at once, a dividend of, say, six per cent.; 
and then that it might be enlarged and expanded, from 
time to time, until a much larger margin of profit, as 
much as twenty per cent., or more, might be reasonably 
anticipated. I believe it could be done, gentlemen; and 
while it would render an unspeakable service to mankind 
by relieving the many thousands of afflicted and suffering 
people who would come there for treatment, after it was 
known there was such a place, it would prove to be a 
good investment to any one who should put his money 
into it. 
Address of Mr. James A. Lucas. 
After what has been said by Dr. Hartt, and by the 
other eminent gentlemen who have spoken, and con- 
sidering the lateness of the hour, I feel that a speech— 
as such from me would be entirely superfluous. But I 
also feel that I am in a position in which I may say a 
few words on this occasion, with propriety, with empha- 
sis, and with effect. THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
29 
A proposition lias been made by Dr. Hartt to found an 
institution for the cure of chronic diseases. Mark well, 
that he does not propose an institution to be used as a 
theatre for experimentation, but as a stage, upon which 
shall be demonstrated, on a large scale, the power of the 
art of medicine, when properly employed, to cure a great 
proportion of those inveterate maladies which are deemed 
by the people in general to be beyond its reach, and in 
which, confessedly, the medical establishments which are 
devoted to their treatment do not pretend to afford any- 
thing more than temporary relief. 
Now, is Dr. Hartt acting in good faith in making his 
proposition ? Has he produced any evidence to show that 
even a fair percentage of cases of these obstinate diseases 
can be radically and permanently cured? And is he 
sustained and indorsed by the medical faculty to which 
he belongs ? In a book published by him with reference 
to this Institution, I find that the first step taken by him 
was to present his views on the prevention and curability 
of chronic diseases in an elaborate paper, which was read 
by him before one of the principal medical societies of 
New York, and that then, and not till then, he made a 
personal visit to every member of the profession residing 
in the city, and gave a detailed explanation of his plan, 
which, in a scientific point of view, was fully developed, 
and that four-fifths of that body gave their signatures to 
a document expressing their entire approval of the enter- 
prise. I find, also, an array of evidence furnished by 
gentlemen of the highest standing in this community, 
belonging to different professions, and among them a 
number of medical men, all going to establish, in a man- 
ner absolutely irresistible, the ability of Dr, Hartt to 
carry out his pretensions, and to prove incontestably that 30 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
he does show his faith by his Avorks. I do not know 
hoAv it may seem to yon, gentlemen, but to me there is 
something beautiful and marvellous in the almost unani- 
mous indorsement given to this new, broad, and compre- 
hensive scheme by the medical faculty of New York. It 
evinces a candor, liberality, and common sense, which 
reflect equal credit on their heads and their hearts ; and 
I doubt not that Avheu the capitalists, in response to 
their recommendation, shall supply the means to place 
the Institution on a permanent basis, they will be found 
ready to co-operate, in every way, to give it a true pro- 
fessional standing, to insure for it a scientific and financial 
success, and to enable it to accomplish all its beneficent 
purposes and designs. 
With regard to the knowledge and skill of Dr. Hartt in 
his special department, permit me to bear witness, and 
speak that which I know, and testify to that which I 
have seen. 
In the autumn of 1875, a man, who had suffered from 
rheumatic gout for upwards of thirty years, was stricken 
down Avith a severe attack. All the remedies which he 
had previously used, with more or less temporary benefit, 
utterly failed; and these Avere the various panaceas 
prescribed by different physicians of the regular faculty, 
followed by the pellets of a homoeopathist of excellent 
standing in his school, avlio finally pronounced the case 
as one which “baffled” him. The man then resorted to 
special remedies without number, and without success ; 
and subsequently to clairvoyance, which, after a trial of 
six weeks, he gave up as fruitless. He laid on his bed 
helpless, with both knees and feet terribly inflamed, not 
able to move. He could not have stood on his feet if a 
fortune had been offered him to do so. Helpless, indeed! THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
31 
and to all intents and purposes, hopeless. The sole 
prospect before him was that of a miserable existence to 
the end; a living death, in which he could only be a 
burden to himself and his friends. He was in this con- 
dition seven months, when he read in the newspapers a 
report of a meeting in the rooms of the Young Men’s 
Christian Association, for the establishment of a hospi- 
tal for the cure of chronic diseases. He did not suppose, 
from his limited income, that he could obtain the services 
of Hr, Hartt; but through a friend who, he learned, was 
acquainted with him, he sent him a message to please 
come to see him. You, gentlemen, have probably sur- 
mised, by this time, that the person X have been speaking 
of is myself. 
Well, Dr. Hartt came to see me very promptly, and 
certainly his examination of me was yery different from 
any that I had had before. When he got through, he 
said, “Well, young man, you ought not to lie here very 
long; I can cure you.” “That sounds very good, Doctor ; 
but I have had it told me before; yet lam glad, indeed, 
to hear you say so; for lam here as a drowning man, 
ready to grasp at the last straw; anything that will rescue 
me from the miserable state in which you see me ; but, 
Doctor,” I said, “what is it going to cost me? My means 
are limited.” Never will I forget the magnanimity with 
which he met me. “"What,” he asked, “can you afford 
to pay me per week?” I said, “that’s a funny way to pay.” 
“It may be,” he said, “but it is my way ; for, then, if I 
desire to see you three or four times a day, either for 
your benefit, or for my own satisfaction, I will feel no em- 
barrassment in doing so, because you will know that I am 
not running up a bill against you.” I named a sum which 
I feared would not be sufficient, but he instantly ac- 
cepted it. 32 
THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
His treatment of my case was entirely different from 
any I liad ever experienced, and I cannot but feel now, 
at this time of my life, that the same treatment, at the 
commencement of my illness, would have saved me from 
many years of suffering and loss. 
After thirteen days had elapsed, one morning I stood 
up on my feet, at my bedside, without pain, and with 
tears of joy I called my wife from an adjoining room to 
come and see me. In a few days after this I was able to 
walk about my rooms, with a cane. I continued to im- 
prove day by day. Dr. Hartt began to attend me on the 
26th of March, 1876, and on the Bth day of May follow- 
ing, I was reinstated in my position, which I had lost on 
account of my protracted disability. The treatment was 
pursued until the 26th of September, of the same year, 
when I felt that I was a new man. Those who knew me 
feel that my restoration to health was a miracle. I have 
been able, since, to do very many things in the way of 
manual labor, that, I never dreamed that I should be able 
to do. And now, if the roofs of the houses .in this city 
and elsewhere could be lifted up, how many thousands 
of just such helpless and hopeless human beings would 
be seen, who could, through the influences and benefits of 
the Columbian Institute, be rescued from their miserable 
estates, and restored to lives of usefulness to themselves, 
to their families, and to society ? 
You all know with what zeal and perseverance, and 
tenacity of purpose Dr. Hartt has labored in this cause ; 
and while I am not in a position to subscribe for stock, 
I have said to him: “At any hour of the day or night, in 
sunshine and in storm, at any, and at all times, whenever 
you want me, command me.” And this, entirely from 
motives of gratitude, and without any expectation of 
remuneration. THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
33 
The following letters have been received since the 
meeting : 
Brooklyn, Dec. 2, 1881. 
Dear Dr. Hartt : 
I telegraphed a long dispatch to my friends at Provi- 
dence, but it was of no avail. They had put me on their 
programme to begin the course, and had sent out about 
a thousand cards, and so I had to pack up and hurry off, 
with so many things unattended to, and among them a 
due explanation of the matter to yourself. 
I returned last evening, but have not had time to see 
any one who may have been at your meeting. I trust 
that you had a successful beginning, and that all went 
off well, regretting that I could not be with you, but 
hoping that your enterprise, which is altogether so 
worthy of the sympathy and support of the public, will 
be carried forward to its consummation. 
Sincerely yours, 
A. P. Putnam. 
182 Main St., Burlington, Yt., 
November 26, 1881. 
My Dear Dr. Hartt : 
I regret exceedingly that it will be impossible for me 
to attend your meeting on the evening of the 30th inst. 
Nothing, I assure you, would give me so much pleasure 
as to present myself a living witness to your unfailing 
skill and patient persistence in the treatment and cure of 
chronic diseases ; for to you I owe my life. 
As I am not to be with you in person, I embrace this 
opportunity of testifying to my utterly hopeless condi- 
tion, when a kind Providence placed me in the care of 
the only physician who ever said, “I can cure you.” 
As you know, for six years before being placed under 
your treatment, I had been an invalid. Dyspepsia, in its 
worst form, confined me a great part of that time to a 
diet of raw beef. Also, rheumatism, with its terrible THE COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE. 
sufferings, had been mine to endure for years. My liver 
was badly diseased-—so much so, that to lie down, or sit 
up, or turn myself in bed, caused me most excruciating 
pain. There were, likewise, grave complications in other 
internal organs. Indeed, I had become so frail that my 
attending physician thought that I could not bear any 
treatment, or take any medicine except of the mildest 
character. 
It was at this critical period that light dawned into my 
darkened life,, by your glad words of assurance that my 
sufferings and hopeless condition need not continue. Is 
it any wonder that, now in the blessed possession of 
health, and having been restored, seven years ago, from 
entire helplessness to a life of enjoyment and usefulness, 
I realize the utter poverty of words to express my gra- 
titude to you ? 
I would it were in my power to awaken an interest in 
the public to the great necessity of the institute for 
which, my dear Doctor, you have so long labored. 
That God will speed this great and noble enterprise, 
for which there is such urgent need, is the earnest prayer 
of yours very gratefully, 
Mina A. Walker. 
Newport, Rhode Island, Jan. 23, 1882. 
Dear Dr. Hartt ; 
I really hope your undertaking may be a success, for 
your city stands in need of just such an Institution ; and 
who is more fitted to be at the head of it than yourself ? 
You will, I know, be pleased to learn that I have had 
no return of the asthma since you ceased to treat me for 
it in 1871; and when I look back to the suffering I had 
gone through for nearly thirty years with that illness, I 
feel grateful to you for eradicating it. 
The next time' I come to your city, I shall certainly 
call on you, and trust you will be able to say that your 
cherished hope is realized. 
I am yours faithfully, 
• George Collins. THE FIRST RECEPTION. 
35 
48 Bast 23d Street, 
New York, March 27, 1882. 
Henry A. Hartt, M. D.; 
Dear Sir : I am very glad to know that you are taking 
steps to open in this city an institute for chronic diseases. 
I am sure it will be a success. I will always remember 
with pleasure the intelligence and skill you showed in the 
treatment of my case. I had suffered many years with 
chronic gastrodynia, and you effected a permanent cure in 
a short time; and I hope you will soon be at the head of 
an institution where your skill will be utilized by having 
about you all the appliances, mechanical and other, that 
may be needed. 
Yours very truly, 
Caleb B. Kneyals. 
302 Bast Broadway, 
New York, Nov. 21, 1882. 
To H. A. Hartt, M. D. 
Dear Doctor: Mrs. Mary M., of 188 East Broadway, 
has suffered from Eheumatisra for the past five years, and 
is now unable to get around her room; is in fact physically 
a total wreck. Her friends came to me to inquire in regard 
to your skill in the treatment of the disease. I have told 
them that you can cure it as surely as the sun rises; that 
there is not the slightest question about it. Hoping that 
you will add another cure to your already brilliant record, 
and that it will very materially assist in establishing the 
reputation of the Columbian Institute for the cure of 
chronic diseases, of which you are the originator, 
I remain very truly yours, 
F. B. Strickland, M. D.