STATE OF NEW-YORK. 
No. 98. 
IN ASSEMBLY, 
March 7, 1842. 
REPORT 
Of the committee on medical societiejrand colleges, 
on the memorial of the New-Yoiyc Eye Infirmary, 
praying for aid from the State. 
Mr. Spence, from the committee on medical societies and colleges, 
to whom was referred the memorial of the directors of the New-York 
Eye Infirmary praying for a continuance of the aid heretofore extend- 
ed to them by the Legislature, 
REPORTS: 
That from a full examination of the New-York Eye Infirmary, in all 
its departments, your committee can, with great confidence, bear tes- 
timony to its eminent usefulness, and assure this honorable body that 
its appropriations are wisely extended in furthering the benevolent ob- 
jects of this institution. 
The objects of the New-York Eye Infirmary are to receive indigent 
persons afflicted with diseases of the eye and ear, from all parts of the 
State, and afford them such relief as their cases admit of, without ex- 
pense to themselves, The register of the institution shows that pa- 
tients have been received from every county of the State. 
The character of the Infirmary is essentially charitable. The pa- 
tients receive advice, attendance and medicines gratuitously; and the 
surgeons, four in number, perform their duties without any remunera- 
[Assembly, No. 98.] 
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[Assembly 
tiom By the annual report of the last year it appears that more than 
one thousand persons have been under the charge of the surgeons 
within the year, of whom a very large portion were cured; and that 
Since the foundation of the institution in 1820, more than twenty-one 
thousand patients have received from it various degrees of relief. 
The expenses of the Infirmary grow out of the rent of the buildings, 
which must necessarily be large to accommodate its patients, salaries 
to an apothecary and house servants, medicines, surgical instruments 
and other minor contingent expenses. 
The grant from the State was $1,000 per annum, and the sum of 
$120 is derived from the interest of a small permanent fund ; making 
the whole income of the Infirmary during the receipt of the grant from 
the State $1,120. 
The commissioners appointed by the Governor and Senate, under 
the act of May 13th, 1840, to supervise the different charitable insti- 
tutions in the first Senate district, made the following report of the 
Eye Infirmary: 
“ The New-York Eye Infirmary was founded in 1820. It is Under 
the control of a board of directors, and is regularly attended by four 
eminent surgeons, who give their services gratuitously. Since the 
establishment of this institution, more than twenty thousand patients 
have been treated at the Infirmary, for almost every Variety of disease 
of the eye and ear. Perhaps no similar institution in this country has 
been more productive of greater benefit to the public.*’ 
The small sum appropriated by the Legislature for this institution 
has been productive of immense benefit to the afflicted, thousands of 
whom, without the assistance and able treatment they have received 
at this Infirmary, would have become helpless paupers, and conse- 
quently dependent upon public charity for their support; so that, if 
we view the small annuity granted by the Legislature, only with a cold 
and heartless reference to pecuniary considerations, we should find a 
great saving to the public treasure. 
But when considered in a different light, and we behold the thou- 
sands who probably have been saved from total blindness—that worst 
of all human afflictions—and made useful members of society, we can 
not but feel that, with reference to a benevolent charity, the Legisla- No. 98.] 
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ture has ample reasons for continuing its fostering aid to this most 
useful association. 
The Infirmary does not rest its claims to the bounty of the State 
solely upon the merit of the public good derived from the exercise of 
public charity to the poor affected with diseases of the eye and ear. 
As a school of opthalmic surgery the Infirmary now enjoys the highest 
reputation; and pupils annually go from it to every portion of the 
State, well informed in this branch of their science. When it is re*- 
collected that these students may annually see more than one thou- 
sand cases of disease of the eye and eat; hear them explained, and 
their proper modes of treatment prescribed by those who have had 
such ample experience as the Eye Infirmary affords-, it must be evi- 
dent that an opportunity for understanding these diseases is here 
afforded, far superior to any elsewhere to be found in America.