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INSTITUTIONS
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BENEVOLENT IS
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BY A PENNSYLVANIA*:.

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CoipV. sweet Benevoli ne'e, with all tliy charms,
The poor encircle ii> thy fondling arms ;
'Dtffv.ae; thy snrles through all the haunts .or w oe^
AncKcbee? the frico^less witfi thy genial glov/.  -
5S555
           PHILADELPHIA

PUBLISHED Eh  ISAAC PEIUCE,
     •No. 12, Soiith Fo' rth-gfcjjeet.

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PRlNTr..  t: , •••- &'vr. CAR*.
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NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
             Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
             Public Health Service 
X 
 
THE
PHILANTHROPIST:
             OR,

     INSTITUTIONS

             OF

BENEVOLENCE.
BY A PENNSYLVAXIAX.
Come, sweet Benevolence, with all thy charms,
The poor encircle in thy fondling arms ;
Diffuse thy smiles through all the haunts of woe,
And cheer the friendless with thy genial glow.
           PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED  BY  ISAAC  PEIRCE.
      No. 12, South Fourth Street.

       PRINTED BY R. & W. CARR.
1813. 
 District of Pennsylvania, to wit:
******    BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eighth day of
JL. S.* November, in the thirty -eighth year of the Independence
»****J of the United States of America, A. D. 1813, ISAAC
PEIRCE, of the said District, hath deposited in this office tht:
title of a book the right whereof he claims as Proprietor in the
words following, to wit:

   " The Philanthropist: or, Institutions of Benevolence.  By a
       Pennsylvanian.

     " Come, sweet Benevolence, with all thy charms,
     The poor encircle in thy fondling arms;
     Diffuse thy smiles through all the haunts of woe,
     And cheer the friendless with thy genial glow."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, in-
tituled, " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing
the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Pro-
prietors of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned."-—
And also to the act, entitled,  " An Act supplementary to an act.
entitled  " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by se-
curing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors
and Proprietors of such Copies during the Times therein men-
tioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of design-
ing, engraving, and etching historical and other Prints."
                  D. CALDWELL,
                        Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania 
PREFACE.
    " In every work regard the writer's end."1

    THE following little treatise is presented
to a benevolent public, for their candid peru-
sal.  As the subject is plain and simple, so
also is the style; and it is hoped that the mat-
ter will not be less interesting on this account.
   I make no sort of apology for keeping  my
name from the public view.  It is of no con-
sequence who is the author, provided the mat-
ter be  both true and useful;  and if it  should
prove to be neither, my name would add  no-
thing to its merit.
   I have treated more fully on the subject of
Charity Schools, than on any other topic;  be-
cause I conceive it  to be  of the utmost im-
portance.   If it should be thought  strange,
that  Medicine should find a place in a work
of this nature, I  can only say, that  " as  the
science of medicine is related to every thing," 
»v                 PREFACE.
of course it cannot be entirely irrelevant to the
present work.
   I hope that the little book will not be alto-
gether uninteresting.  If it should be ulti-
mately successful in adding to the comfort
and happiness of the poor, I shall be content-
ed, that the labour of my leisure hours has not
been altogether in vain. 
CONTENTS.
                CHAPTER I.
(If  Philanthropy—lis relation  io  Beiuvolencc—
  E,x,'rci>>e of it.

                CHAPTER II.
enteral remark* on the hu:;u;u mind—Establish-
  ment of Free School*—Another plan, of a more
  Uhn-ai nature, surested—Importa.xe of such
  tii.ii ilulions.

                CHAPTER III.
Ceneral remarks--—Considerations  on the  Alms-
  house—And dm for the Insane poor—Dispensa-
  ries— Ho.-;phable Soadles, 6a-. &u\

                CHAPTER IV.
Vrorision for disabled Soldiers—A national Asy-
  lum for'thelr reception—The children of wound-
  id Soldiers to be supported by Government—An
  Asylum for them also.

                CHAPTER Y.
Diseases of Infancy—Mortality of the  Summer-
  sickness—Hospital for poor sick children—Old
  age—Conclusion.


                                a 2
*;.>• 
 
THE
PHILANTHROPIST.
             CHAPTER I.

 Of Philanthropy—Its relation to Benevolence—
               Exercise of it.

   IN all ages of the world,  the benevolent
iffections have been  admired.  Philanthropy
las long occupied an exalted  rank, in the list
)f social virtues, and still commands the high-
est respect.  It is inseparably connected with
)enevolence, since the one cannot exist with-
>ut the other.   They  are at all times, the
)rightest gems that adorn the human charac-
er;  they conceal many defects, that would
otherwise be considered, as odious deformi-
ies.   Hence, it is said, " that charity cover-
*th a multitude of sins."
  The great variety of miserable objects and
inhappy circumstances in the world, removes
Ul difficulty in finding room,  for the exercise
of the benevolent affections.   "As I  look
«nly for the miserable," says an eminent wri- 
8
 ter, " I have no occasion for a lantern."  The
 wretched are to be found every where, and at
 all times ; and we  cannot avoid them, unless,
 indeed,  we are  bent on doing so.  The cries
 of the distressed, may be heard  every where
 around us,  and  the groans of the dying  daily
 salute our ears.
   There is a great deal of speculative benevo-
 lence in the world, much Of verbal charity.
 If you would behold proofs of the assertion,
 visit  the theatre, and observe the  momen-
 tary sighs,  and  trickling tears,  that flow  at
 the recital of a tale of woe.  The tender fe-
 male,  said  the  great  and  good Rush, that
 mourns over the sorrows of the distressed,  as
 they are represented on  the stage, will often
 hear, with indifference, the cries of the needy,
 and turn, with haughty indignation,  the  half-
 starved beggar from her door.
   Connoisseurs, says St. Pierre, are rapt with
 admiration  at sight of  a Savoyard's head';
 painted by Greuze ; but the Savoyard himself
 is at the  corner of the street, speaking, walk-
 ing, almost frozen "to death, and no one minds
 him.   That mother, with her children around
 her, forms a charming group ■  the picture  is
 invaluable ;  the  originals are in a neighbour-
 ing garret, without a farthing whereupon to
 subsist.
   How great is  the fanaticism that  pervades
the human mind ! Strange that the affections
should yield to  the impulse of imaginary 
9
woes, and remain insensible to the powers of
reality!  But it  is unfortunately,  too  true,
that  the  tenderness and  sympathy  of many,
consists in nothing more, than this ephemeral
display of compassionate feeling. Some satisfy
their consciences on the  score of benevolent
actions,  if  perchance,  they have relieved a
suffering fellow creature, in the act of pro-
moting their own pecuniary interests.   But
this  is  not benevolence;  nor can  any act
merit that appellation,  unless the grand aim,
is the good of the object  for whose relief, it is
performed.   If any thing, of right,  appertain
to self in  the exercise  of charity,  it is the
pleasing  satisfaction of having discharged a
duty to a fellow man, by  providing for his
wants, or alleviating the pangs of disease.
  The great  art of doing  good depends on
the manner of doing it.  If prudence be not
attended to in the administration of charity,
if our benevolence be not regulated by judg-
ment, it will sometimes prove an injury, rather
than a benefit.  The way of acting  prudently
and judiciously in this business, is eloquently
enforced in that important maxim,  " do unto
others as you  would have them do unto you."
If this be observed, we  shall  never err, and
the  end  of our benevolence will be accom-
plished.  The point in question, may be well
illustrated by an  anecdote  of Rousseau, told
by  himself.   One day,  says he, I  happened
to be  at a village festival,  in  a gentleman's 
10
j
 country seat, not far from Paris. After dinner,
 the company betook themselves to walking up
 and down the fair, and amused themselves
 with throwing pieces of small money among
 the peasantry, to have the pleasure of seeing
 them scramble and fight, in picking them up.
 For my own part,  following the bent of my
 solitary humour,  I walked  apart  in another
 direction.  I observed a little  girl selling ap-
 ples, displayed in a flat basket, which she car-
 ried before her.   To no purpose,  did she
 extol the excellence of her goods;  no cus-
 tomer  appeared to cheapen them.    How
 much do you ask for all your apples? said I to
 her.—All my apples ?  replied she, and at the
 same time,  began  to reckon with herself.—
 Threepence, Sir,  said  she.—I take them at
 that price, returned I, on condition  you will
 go  and distribute them  among those little
 Savoyards whom you  see below; this was
 instantly executed.  The children were quite
 transported with  delight  at this  unexpected
 regale,  as was likewise the little merchant at
 bringing her wares to  so good a  market.   I
 should  have conferred  much  less pleasure on
 them, had I given them the money.  Every
 one was satisfied, and no one humbled.
    Much evil is  often done by giving  alms,
 without judgment.  The beggar, whose peti-
 tion for a trifle to buy him  bread,  has ob-
 tained a few cents, will often convert the cha-
.■ rity of the donor, into a great evil, by wasting 
11
it  at the next tippling house.   Instances of
this sort, are to be met with daily in our city,
and they should suffice to make the benevo-
lent observe more prudence and judgment.
   The venerable author of the Studies of Na-
ture,  has displayed the tender feelings of his
sympathising soul, in glowing colours. He has
suggested various plans, for the relief of the
poor, founded on the benevolent sentiments of
his great mind.   He relates a story of a beau-
tiful female, whose melancholy appearance
attracted his attention.  He sought an inter-
view  with her, and having obtained  it, he
learned, that Her husband  had  lately become
a bankrupt.  Having heard her sorrowful his-
tory thus far, he enquired " to what  parish
she belonged."   Her reply  was "  to  St.
Eustache."  " The Rector of your parish,"
said he, " passes for a very good  charitable
man."—" Yes Sir," said she, " but you need
not to be informed, that there is no charity
in parishes for us miserable Jews."   At these
words, her tears began to flow more copiously,
and she arose to go on her way.  He  then
tendered a small pittance for her present relief,
requesting her to accept it, at least as a mark
of good will.  " She received it, and returned
me more reverences," says the writer, " and
loaded  me with  more benedictions, than if  I
had re-established her  husband's credit."
   What satisfaction and  real  pleasure must
have  pervaded the bosom  of this  benevolent 
12
man !  How many delicious banquets of en-
'oyment might be realised, by thus expending,
three or four hundred pounds a year!  He only
"mows the value of money, who has  learned
low to appropriate it to a  happy use.  The
miser is a stranger to such pleasure,  for his
wealth is held sacred by him not to be hand-
led, except to satisfy the necessities of life.
  Many persons,  urged by the earnest solici-
tations of a beggar at their door, give a small
sum  f money,  for two reasons ; the  first is,
that they may get rid of what they esteem a
nuisance; the second, that they may avoid the
imputation of being hard-hearted. A donation
under  such circumstances, is not entitled to
 he appellation of a benevolent  action.  The
jltimate  good  to be obtained, is  centered
in self, and  not  in the miserable  creature,
who receives the  alms.   The money is bes-
towed, without reflecting for a moment, to
what purpose it may be applied.  And in a
majority of such  cases, the trifle received is
made an instrument of increasing the distress
of the unhappy  wretch.
  But  if  real benevolence  pervaded  the
bosoms of such  persons,  if the welfare  of
their fellow men was the inciting cause to the
exercise of charity, very different effects would
result from their conduct.   Instead of giving
money indiscriminately, they would enquire
minutely into the circumstances of every case,
and regulate their conduct accordingly.  It hi 
13
not, perhaps, an exaggeration of the ease, to
say, that one half of the miseries of the poor
might be prevented, by the judicious exercise
of benevolent designs.
  The  indigence of the commonalty  is the
first cause of the physical and moral maladies
of the rich.   It is the business of  those who
possess  the  power, to provide  a remedy.
When I 'speak of the indigence of the com-
monalty, let it not be supposed, that I mean
mere bodily want; this is but trifling in its na-
ture, compared to  mental indigence.   The
evil must be corrected by commencing with
the education  of the poor.  Give them a suf-
ficient degree of learning to make  them what
men should be, rational creatures, and it will
require  but little exertion to eradicate the evil
that remains.
   The.  education of the poo**, therefore, shall
claim our a:t: ntion in the following chapter.
B 
14
              CHAPTER II.

General renini-!:s on the hu nan mht<'!—Es'abliAi-
  ■meui of Free School:—Amdher plan, of a moi <•
  hb^rai nature,  snggaled—Importance  of such
  inxiUAions.

   ''■ 'Tis education forms the common mind,
   Just as  the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."

   THE  natural powers of the human mind
bespeak something of nobility,  something of
real dignity,  that claims and should receive
our strictest regard.  The highest faculty per-
ceptible in the  brute creation,  amounts  to
nothing more  exalted than mere instinct:
This, it is true, is eminently adapted to  ail
their wants, and  in  itself  adequate to every
exigency.
  But the mind of man assumes a nobler at-
titude ; it  possesses not only such faculties as
are requisite for its own being, but it is often
made subservient to the  good  of others.  It
is the most sublime model  of perfection in  all
the operations of creative wisdom.  It occu-
pies the highest pinnacle of true greatness, of
superior dignity.
  The improvement  and refinement  of this
admirable part of the  human fabric, is  depen-
dent on education.   By means of this agent, 
15
the rudeness, and often the deformity of na-
ture, is removed.
   For the purpose of giving more general ex-
tent to the utility of education, governments
have  wisely established  institutions,  for the
purpose of giving instruction to the poor, free
of expense. These institutions have been dif-
ferent in their system of government, accord-
ing to the different views of their founders and
promoters.
   The constitution of the state of Pennsylva-
nia,  has provided for the education of poor
children,  in such general terms,  as have left
to the judgment  of legislative bodies, to de-
cide  on the  plans of such establishments.
Unfortunately, however, very little has been
effected, and  the number of poor schools is
very small.
   When  it is remembered that the improve-
ment of every succeeding generation must de -
pend very materially  on the greater or less
diffusion of learning  among children; when
it is further recollected, that the brightest ge-
nius may often lie concealed in the obscurity
of a miserable hut, capable of being roused
into active life by the stimulus of a little edu-
cation, who is there, that does not immediately
perceive the importance of attending carefully
to the education  of poor children.
   If it were necessary, many examples of the
good effects of educating poor children, might
be easily adduced.  There have been not  a 
16
 few men,  illustrious for their  usefulness in
 life, famous for their mental perfections, who
 received the germs of their education in cha-
 rity schools.
   But the importance of education to chil-
 dren of inferior capacities, is abundantly evi-
 dent.  What sight can be more truly lamen-
 table, than that of a person passing through
 the period of youth, and at last attaining to
 manhood,  without the ability  to write or to
 read his own  name!   How liable  are such
 people to  imposition!   And  in addition  to
 this, under what a pressure of the most poig-
 nant mortification must they  not frequently
 labcur !   It is  to be regretted, that a definite
 degree of education,  is not exacted by law
 from masters, to every indented person.  It is
 true, indeed, that this important object is ge-
 nerally attended to by parents and guardians,
 but it is nevertheless true, that  many are in-
 dented without any provision of this  kind.  It
 might  be supposed, that masters would not
 be so negligent of those under  their charge,
 as to suffer their  time  of service  to expire,
 without giving  them as much  instruction  as
 would tend, at least, to save them from fre-
quent imposition.  But it is, unfortunately, a
 truth, that these persons often care for nothing
but the faithful services of those under them,
and having attained this object, they are care-
less of the real welfare of their servants. Thev
do place them sometimes on an eciual footing 
17
with their brutes; but a fine horse is frequent-
ly esteemed an object of infinitely more con-
cern, than a servant who has been faithful for
many years.  These unfortunate characters
are not fit subjects for a charity  school,  be-
cause, as in most cases, the circumstances of
masters would easily enable them to educate
their servants, they should not be classed with
those who are objects of charity.  Hence, the
importance  of obliging masters, in  all cases,
to educate their servants, or to  have  them
educated, is made more apparent.   Under
such circumstances, the effects of education,
could not fail  to become more general, and to
render every  succeeding generation, less illi-
terate.
   Much has been said, at various times, re-
lative to  the proper mode of conducting cha-
rity schools.   The subject is so important,
that much more may  be advanced, without
exhausting it or rendering a system absolutely
perfect.
   Charity schools  should  be established  by
our legislatures, in towns, villages and  town-
ships, throughout the state ; and their number
in the thinly settled parts of country, should
be  proportioned to the  population.   If error
be  suffered to exist at all, with  regard  to the
number of such seminaries, it were  better to
have too many, than otherwise.  This is a
point however,  that could  be decided with
very little difficulty, 
18
   Some  uniform routine of education should
be  established, and the same kinds of books
should be  in  general use  in all the  schools.
This is a matter of economy :  because a large
quantity of elementary books could be printed
for this purpose, at a less expense, than would
attend the purchase of a great variety.  Ano-
ther advantage, not less important, would fol-
low the  observance  of this rule, as  may be
forcibly shewn by supposing a case.   A child
that has been  initiated into the forms oi one
school, and  who has made considerable  pro-
gress in learning, might  be under the neces-
sity of removing into an adjacent township.
Now  in  tnis  case,   a material  disadvantage
would accrue  to the  scholar, if his new tutor
observed a different routine oi  education, and
made use of other books.  The scene would
be somewhat novel, and could not fail to per-
plex.  But if the same routmt w re uniformly
observed, die  scholar would unci, no difficulty
hi  continuing  in his former  course.   He
would  1.1 the one  case' lose  much  b\:  the
ch.u^e  of situation, while in the odier he
wouid lose nothing.
   The superintendence of such institutions is
a  point of  less consequence.   i\evv officers
might  be provided for by law,  or officers al-
ready  acting in  certain capacities, -might be
further authorised to superintend these schools.
County commissioners might  be vested with 
19
power to  regulate the schools, to  appoint tu-
tors,  8>cc.
   If  it be. deemed  proper to admit  others,
than  chanty  scholars to such seminaries,  it
would be necessary that no distinction should
exist  between the scholars.   The good of
such  institutions requires that all the scholars
shouid be treated alike,  and that those who
are on the charity list, should not be  known
as such to the rest of the scholars.
   The propriety of admitting any who are not
objects oi  charity,  to  such institutions,  is,
howi ver, very questionable.  The disi motions
which would be apt to arise, from a great va-
riety  of unforeseen circumstance-,  would in
all Ccses,  have a powerful influence in frustra-
ting the ultimate design.   On this account, it
would, no doubt, be much more  prudent, to
m;:ke such schools,  chanty institutions en-
tirely.
   The tutors of such seminaries should be
carefully  selected; they should  possess, in
addition to all the qualifications of honest and
upright  men,  those  finer feelings of soul,
which flow from the  glowing heart of the real
philanthropist.   They  should  be  kind; as
desirous of advancing  the mental interest of
their pupils,  as  of increasing the  weight of
their purses by the emoluments of office.
   I have  said that tutors should be honest and
upright men, but  my meaning was  that of
common  acceptation.   Let them,  however, 
20
 be truly honest, according to the most exten-
 sive application of that term,  and, they  will
 then be just such characters, as are proper to
 teach charity scholars.
   Previous to the  admission of any child, it
 would be  well to exact  from  the parents or
 guardians, some  satisfactory assurance, that
 the child on attaining to a proper age,  should
 be sent to  learn such a trade or sort of busi-
 ness, as might  best suit capacity and inclina-
 tion. This may be deemed rather too severe;
 but a little attention will discover the contrary
 to be true.  For all  parents,  having  a real
 desire to promote the welfare of their children,
 would cheerfully submit to such a regulation.
 The very indulgent parent, who would think
 it criminal to enter into an engagement of this
 nature,  would be very apt to do even  worse
 than to keep his children at home. He would
 do so, by  neglecting  to compel the st, ictest
 attendance at school hours, or  rather by suf-
 fering his children to stay at home, whenever
 they might be desirous  of gratifying their
 caprice.
   What would be the expense of such  an en-
larged plan of education ? is the cry  of the
economist.  But, is expense to be an  object
of such serious consideration, in the accom-
plishment of so important an end ?  I cannot
believe that such contracted sentiments can
have existence in the breast of a sincere friend
to the best interests of mankind. 
\
                   21

  But let us enquire a little what would be
the probable  expense.  One hundred build-
ings" proper for schools might be erected, for
the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ;
the ground need not cost the  state any thing,
because, owners of land would be willing to
appropriate a small spot to so laudable a pur-
pose.  The annual expenses, would be com-
posed of the salary to the tutors, the stationary,
keeping the schools in repair, firewood, &c. all
of which would not amount to more than one
hundred  and fifty thousand dollars.   The
books necessary for  the scholars, might  be
obtained,  by engaging a public printer,  at a
lower rate, than in any other way.  The cost
of these, would be perhaps fifty thousand dol-
lars ; an  expense  which could not be neces-,
sary more than once in twenty or thirty years.
   The annual expenses of  these establish-
ments would scarcely be perceived by the in-
dividuals  of  the community, if collected by
taxation.   It would be so  trifling, as that no
person however parsimonious could complain.
The ultimate benefit, that would necessarily
follow such a measure, would be incalculable.
Our poor children would become better men,
and more useful citizens, and much of the lost
 dignity of man, would be thereby regained.
    Such a plan as  this would be eminently ad-
 vantageous  to  society ; but a much  more
 liberal system might be adopted, with more
 profit to the  poor.  The system, which I am 

about to state, being necessarily attended with
heavy  expenses,  would not  be apt to meet
legislative  patronage.   This is  no  reason,
however  wnv such a system should not" be
made  a  business of state.   The  buildings
necessary in this plan should be sufficiently
large to contain two or three hundred scholars.
These should be divided  into four  distinct
portions,  two of them composed of the males
and the other two of the females.  It would
consequently be necessary to have four sepa-
rate  school rooms.
  The direction of the schools should  be
placed in the hands of a steward and matron,
who should  likewise perform the  duties of
tutors. These, with a male and female usher,
would make up  the necessary complement of
tutors.  If, however, it would be more advan-
tageous,  that all  the tutors should be  males,
this regulation might easily be adopted, with-
out interfering with the present plan.
  The buildings  being sufficiently capacious,
those children who could not be maintained
at home,  might be kept at the institution.  It
would be well to have all the  scholars  clothed
alike, and ,d the expense  of the directors.  If
it were possible to have  all the  children  re-
siding in  the  institution, it would be still more
judicious.  It would then be an easy  task, to
make the school evince that  uniform  appear-
ance, which is at all  times, highly gratifying,
in such an establishment.   The improvement 
23
of the scholars  would be  then much more
certain, because  the familiarity which would
necessarily subsist  between tutor and pupil,
would better acquaint the former, with the
inclination and ability of  the latter.  Another
advantage resulting from the permanent resi-
dence of the scholars in the seminary, would
be their regular  attendance at school hours;
in addition to this, the scholars would be pre-
vented from spoiling their clothes, and injur-
ing their persons from the various causes  to
which they are exposed, when running at large.
   The pupils should be kept at this seminary
until  that period,  in which it is  proper  that
some kind  of business should be taught  to
them, by  which they may gain a livelihood.
The regulation already mentioned, should  be
here  enforced;  I mean that of  compelling
parents or guardians to agree, that their chil-
dren or wards, should, at the proper time,  go
to learn some trade or occupation.  This part
of the plan is indispensibly necessary, in order
to insure a  happy and profitable  issue to  the
undertaking.
   As it is probable, that among so many chil-
dren, there  would be some who would evince
very  promising talents,  it would be well  to
devote a  part of the funds of the institution
to give to such persons all the advantages of
a classical education, and finally, to have them
instructed in one of the liberal professions.
Thus, after the lapse of a few years, the direc- 
24
 tors of the  seminary might enjoy the  heart-
 cheering satisfaction, of beholding as an orna-
 ment of the bar, as a pillar of the  church, or
 as  a shining light in the medical  profession,
 one who had received the germs of education
 in  the  temple  of charity.   How delightful
 the reflection, how sublime the prospect!  Oh
 that the coffers of  the East,  or  the  massy
 mines of Peru were mine !  I  would erect
 such a temple,  such an edifice, such a refuge
 from ignorance and oppression.   On  either
 side, I would place this simple motto,

  HIE FRIEND OF THE FRIENDLESS.
  Is there not one among the multitude, whose
 circumstances would enable him to  carry such
 a plan into execution? Is there not one, whose
 tender soul, glowing with  the flame which
 burned in the bosom of the great Howard, is
 eager to soar above the common dispensations
 of charity, the scanty gifts of nominal benevo-
 lence ?   If there be  such a character among
 the   sons of affluence, the road  to deathless
 fame, to glorious immortality is here.
  If any one desire  to  dispose of  his money
 in this way,  I will take the liberty of dictating
 his  last will  and testament.   Suppose him to
 be  worth two  millions  of dollars,  or  there-
abouts ; the plan is easy.  Let five hundred
thousand dollars be appropriated to the pur-
chase of ground, the erection of the buildings,
and the necessary furniture, he. The remain- 
25
i»g one million, five hundred thousand dollars,
would yield  an interest of ninety thousand
dollars:  which  would  be  quite  sufTicient to
defray all the annual  expends of the institu-
tion, and to educate the more promising  pu-
pils,  in the manner already stated.  The  dis
position of the whole business might  be !t..;
to any number of persons  that  might be
deemed  necessary.  These might be s*ylc;<
the Trustees of the institution, who should be
authorised to appoint tutors, &x\  according
to the plan of the founders of the establish-
ment.
   If it were desirable  to receive some pecu-
niary remuneration from  such an institution,
this end mi^ht be accomplished bv enhnnnc-
the present plan. Buildings might be erected
on the grounds of the institution, suitable for
work-shops, in which the different trades,  ma-
nufactures,  Sec. might  be conducted.    Op-
portunities would here  present of instructing
many of the pupils, at  the proper period, in
such  business as would best suit their talents
and inclination.   They  should be still main-
tained in the institution;  and their labour in
the different occupations would be a conside-
rable aid in enlarging the funds.  This rule,
of course, is applicable  or.l\ to pupils of infe-
rior capacity.  It is related  of the Chinese,
that when they desire to know the particular
trade  or occupation  most suitable for their
chilJ:\n, they make them drink ardent spirits
                               c 
26
till thyV become  intoxicated.   In this state
they take them into a  room, in  which are
-placed the various tools of the different me-
chanical arts;  a;id the  inclination  and pecu-
liar talent of each is  inferred from the parti-
cular touis which  he  handles and appears to
admire the most.   Thus if the child chance
to play with a thimble or a pair of shears, he
is thence destined  to the shopboard of the tay-
lor for life.
   Althouglrthe mode just stated, may suit
the inclinations  of the Chinese, it would not
be very apt to answer for the children of this
country.  It is not a  difficult matter,  to learn
by a little care, the particular kind of business
to which the child will  be best adapted.   At
all event:,, it is possible to obtain this know-
ledge  without the disagreeable  necessity of
resorting to the abuse of )relent spirits.
   But I have been extending my views to the
utmost bounds of  practicable utility. The day
that shall give birth to such an establishment,
will be the most illustrious of all days. * O'l
that its morning  sun may quickly rise, and
the splendour of its da w;u;c;  light soon  irra-
diate a world of ignorance and error !
   Although this plan may not be put in exe-
cution for many  years to eacne, yet the first
I have  mentioned may be realised ere lone;.
Being made a business of state, the expenses
incident  to  the  establishment,  would  bear
equally upon all, and oppress none. 
27
  The state of Pennsylvania has thus far oc-
eupied a high  rank in the literary world. Her
medical  school has become  the ornament  of
our countrv and the  admiration of the uni-
verse ;  and the diffusion of learning, by means
of Free schools, throughout the state, will add
additional lustre to her literary character.
  It is criminal negligence in our legislatures,
not to  attend strictly and persevering!y to so
important a concern;  a concern which affects
in the  most material  manner the  welfare of
the community.  Is  the  improvement of the
human mind an affair of less magnitude, than
the formation  of turnpike roads, the building
■■>f bridges,  or the erection of new county
towns ?  Are  the benefits resulting from the
latter,  to be placed in competition  with those
which  necessarily accompany the former ? It
might  be supposed that  this were  really the
fact, from a view of the  conduct of those to
whom  the concerns of state are entrusted.
  Perhaps there  is  an assignable  cause for
such conduct.   Men who.exert themselves to
have turnpikes formed,  or to  have bridges
built,  are,   generally  speaking,  immediately
concerned in those affairs ; or if not concerned
themselves, others are interested, who are men
of influential  characters, and who of course
must not be offended.  Legislators hope by
such acts to  bring themselves  into greater
favor with the  leading characters of  the county
to which they belong.  They have no such in- 
28
catements, however, or think they have not, to
exert themselves in the establishment of Free
schools. 1 do not assert that this is the fact, but
their  conduct justifies such suspicions, and
the very nature of ambitious men  gives fur-
ther confirmation.
  Vice, poverty, and misery in every shape,
are but too often the sad concomitants of ig-
norance.   Beneath  its oppressive yoke, the
noble faculties of the soul  are bowed down
in slavish inactivity.   The sublime operations
of the mind are  enveloped in the maze  of
error, and exist only in a  passive state.  How
long shall it be thus with our  race ! may the
time  speedily arrive when man shall  appre-
ciate his own mental powers, by a due regard
to the faculties of his fellow man !  The poor
are no less our brethren, on account of their
poverty.   They  are  children of  the same
common parent with  ourselves, and as such,
are entitled  to our friendly care.   The assis-
tance we  give them for  the preservation and
health of their bodies,  is of trivial consequence,
compared .with Jiataid, which is necessary to
the refinement of  their  intellectual  powers.
It is this alone, that can  effectually succeed,
in ameliorating their miserable condition.  It
is this, only, that can insure to tne mind,  its
n.al dignity and value.
   While I am on the subject of Education, it,
may be proper to state a few objections to some
practices of schools c^nerally, which must be, 
29
at all times, of pernicious tendency, but par-
ticularly so in  Free schools.
   The spirit of emulation, so frequently in-
stilled into young pupils, however admired by
some, is absolutely injurious. It renders them
through  life,  intolerant,  vain-giorious  and
trenibiingly  alive  to  the  slightest  censure.
Such effects should be carefully  avoided in a
charity seminary, and  in their place, all the
amiable virtues  should be  cherished.   The
latter will tend greatly  to counteract many of
the unhappy concomitants of indigence.
   " Is not a child," says an eminent writer,
" influenced by  the emulation  of schools,
under the necessity of renouncing it from
the very  first step  he  makes in the world,
if  he means to be supportable to his equals
and  to himself?   The world itself obliges
him to mask the hideous aspect of the faults of'
Education.  Thus a fine perspective  is opeiK d
to  human life, in which we are constrained to
employ the half of our  days,  in  destroying,
with a thousand painful  efforts,  what had been
raised up in the other, with so  many  tears,
and so much parade."
c 2
1* ■. 
30
              CHAPTER  III.


(■moral  remarks—Considerations  on  the  Almr.-
  ilouse—AsijLimjoi" ih? l}isi<ne poor— ^spensa-
  i'ks—Hospitable S-.-••'.-e»•.--(. <v-. «'v.-.

       " My cradle was the couch of care,
           And sorrow rock'd me in it;
       Fate seem'd her saddest robe to wear
       (>n the first day that saw me there,
       And darkly shadow'd with despair
                         My earliest minute.

       " E'en then the griefs I now possess,
           As natal boons were given ;
       And the far form of happiness
       Which hover'd round, intent to bless,
       Scared by the phantoms of distress,
                        Flew back to heaven.

       For I was made in joy's despite,
           And meant for misery's slave •
        And all my hours oi brief delight
       Fled like the speedy winds of ni;-ht,
        Which soon shall wheel their sullen flight
                          Across my grave."

    " O POVERTY !" exclaimed one of its
 victims, "thou half-sister of  death,  where
 shell i find force of execration equal to  the
 amplitude  of  thy  demerits?  Oppressed by
 thee, the venerable ancient,  grown hoary in
 diC practice  of virtue,  laden with  years and 
31
wretchedness, implores a little, little aid to
support his existence,  from a  stony-hearted
son of Mammon, whose sun of prosperity ne-
ver knew a cloud; and is by him, denied and
imuited. Oppressed by thee, the man of sen-
timent, whose heart glows with independence,
ami melts with sensibility,  inly pines under
the neglect, or writhes in bitterness of  soul,
under the contumely of arrogant,  unfeeling
wealth.   Oppressed by thee, the son of ge-
nius, whose ill-starred  ambition plants him at
the tables of  the fashionable and polite,  must
see in suffering silence his remark neglected,
and Ii'in  person despised, while shallow great-
ness, in  Ins hideous attempts at wit, shall  meet
with countenance and applause.  Nor is it only
the family of worth that have reason to  com-
plain of thee; the children of folly and  vice,
though in common with thee, the offspring of
evil, smart equally under thy rod."
   Well might the soul formed in the mould
of sensibility, thus exclaim,  on  beholding the
miseries of human life.  Alas ! the gloom of
distress thickens around, and  becomes  dark
as the blackness  of  night, the longer we be.
hold the scenes of wretchedness in the world.
If health smile on the haggard gloom, it may
for a while dissipate a  portion of the sorrow
that reigns around.   But,  alas, how often do
we behold her roses withered, by the chilling
blasts of disease !  The half-clad form, whose
cheeks so lately beamed with healthful bloom, 
                    32

thut seemed, to lessen the miseries of poverty,
i«..<•;- stretched on the bed of sickness, is a pic-
ture of woe. which puts all description at de-
fiance:.  View the laborious father of a large
au t indigent lamiiy, thus situated !   The be-
loved groupe,  who have learned to depend on
him-for  support, are now pining in want, and
almost perishing around him.  It is  such  a
view as this,  that exhibits poverty arrayed in
her most terrific garb, heaping torture on tpr-
ture and rendering existence miserable, by her
multiplied pangs of woe.
   One  would suppose that in a world like
this, thoe would  be  ample sources for the
happiness of mankind.  If it were a small and
com-racted theatre,  on which men must stand
constantly in each other's way, the case would
be quite different;  it would be madness to ex-
pect any thing better for the majority of our
race, than misery.   But, the world is large
enough ; if indeed there be any fault,  it is,
that there is  too much unoccupied  space in
it.  When we cast but a glimpse over it, and
make but a partial survey  of  creation,  how
vast, how wonderful the prospect!  The al-
most infinite  diversity of objects and charac-
ters between the two great extremes of nature,
the animate  and inanimate,  attract our notice
and claim our closest attention.
   We behold in the universe  an ample sup-
ply of variety and  utility,  destined to satisfy
the wants of mankind.  Nature  has diffused 
                    33

her blessings with a bounteous hand, through-
out the  vast domains of creation.  She has
placed the necessaries of life, and many of its
luxuries, within the reach of all men.   From
what source then, it is asked, ]«rcceed the mi-
series, the calamities of the human race?  Do
they arise from any defect in the objects pre-
sented to man for his enjoyment ?  No*, the
fault lies not here, but in the depravity of hu-
man nature. Men, by a fatal delusion, are led
to make improper estimates of their own wel-
fare, and the means of promoting it.  Hence
arise the storms of adversity, pregnant with
all the miseries and disasters of human life.
   I am  of opinion, with a fate writer, that one
step  towards relieving the indigence of the
commonalty,  is  to  diminish  the excessive
opulence of the rich.  It is not by them that
the people live, as many politicians have pre-
tended.   It would  be necessary,  says the
same writer,  in order to  check unbounded
opulence, without, however, doing injustice to
the rich, to  put an end to the venality of em-
ployments,  which confers  them  all on  that
portion  of society which needs them the least,
as the means of subsistence, for it gives them
to those who have money.  But this is by no
means a sufficient remedy ; something more
is requisite, to reduce all  men  to the same
level    Half the misery in the world wouid
be abolished,  if man could but  be  taught to
view his brother, not as an inferior being, but 
31
as " bone of Ids bone, flesh of his flesh," and
in all respects, like himself, a mere man.
   A man, by little better than acci lent, mk1-
deniy acquires a large fortune.   What is the
consequence ?  'He ceases to be the man he
was  before, and assumes as many haughty
airs of self consequence, as if he were  some-
thing more dignified, than a miserable wretch.
He expects  to be flattered, adored, and alas !
for human nature, he is not off en disappointed.
The poor man, who  was but lately  on the
same footing with himself, his  companion in
indigence, is scorned, avoided, and regarded
as a  creature of too mean condition to  be any
longer an associate.
   Fortunately,  however, such  arrogance is
sometimes justly  rewarded.   Riches  have
wings, we are told, and such men often expe.
rience the truth of the saving.   The  wealth
that has been amassed so suddenly, is of:en as
quickly lost, and  the .miserable creature is
then  of all  others, the most  wretched.  All
this is the result of that sentiment of ineuualitv,
which is  so generally  attached to affluence
and  indigence.
   This evil is not incident  to our  ceeintrv
alone ; it is  common to  all nations.  There i-;
in reality, less of it, here, than abroad,  raving
to the very nature of our government, and the
advantages which we enjoy.
   Perhaps the  greater  or less  prevalence of
poverty may be in some measure estimated, 
35
according to the ignorance cr information of
the people.   Many of the difficulties and dis-
tresses of the poor, arise from the want of
education in early  life.  This defect not only
subjects them to'imposition from the design-
ing,'but it tends also to make them more de-
praved, more disposed to commit  acts of im-
propriety.
   To remedy the  evil, many plans have been
suggested, at differert times, and in different
ages of the  world.   The humane have em-
ployed all diligence to lessen the burden of
distress and misery, to which the poor are ex-
posed.   They have used individual exertion,
and in addition to this, they have occasionally
associated themselves together, for the pur-
pose of accomplishing, more effectually, their
laudable designs.
   Public edifices have  been erected  in all
countries for the accommodation of the poor ;
and this country has not been less active, than
those at a distance, in carrying into effect, the
benevolent plans  that have been  formed  at
various times.
   Let us attend for a few moments to the na-
ture of these institutions.
   Aims-Houses are generally destined for the
 reception of  all descriptions of persons, who
 are unable to live by their own exertions,  or
 to gain  a  livelihood from the assistance  of
 friends.   In  this  respect, they answer  a  pro-
per and laudable purpose.   They shelter from 
56
the pitiless storm, the helpless and infirm, the
orphan in distress, and the widow, friendless
and forlorn.  But still the plans of the best are
not faultless.  Not one of them is founded on
those truly benevolent and liberal principles,
which humanity dictates.  This proceeds from
a prevalence of that parsimonious spirit, which
never accomplishes any thing above mere me-
diocrity. A few thousand dollars in addition to
the usual expenditures would be amply ade-„
quate to render a charitable institution, what
it should be.
  Where, you ask, lies the evil, so much com-
plained of? The answer is easy.   On visiting
an alms-house, we behold the virtuous and the
vicious, those who have lived in affluence, and
those who  have always been the heirs of in-
digence, assembled in one room,  forming one
common society.  This  is  the grand objec-
tion to institutions of Charity, but in  addition
to this, many more may be adduced.
  An alms-house should  be situated  at a few
miles distance, from the city or town to which
it  belongs- There are  many  reasons why-
such a situation should be preferred.   The air
of the country would have a happier tendency
in correcting the unwholesome effluvia, that
abounds within  the walls of an  alms-house.
It would consequently be much more  favoura-
ble to the recovery of the sick in such an in-
stitution.   The paupers  could be kept  with
less difficulty within the  bounds.  In a well 
                    37

regulated institution,however, the detention of
paupers should be strictly attended to.   They
should not be suffered to go out on any occa-
sion,  unless  for purposes of necessity.  As
the alms-house of Philadelphia is now regu-
lated, a pauper may receive admission on the
approach of winter, and  be supported until
the next season,  when he is allowed ta.xe-
move from his winter residence.  He is now
in no  danger of suffering from  extreme cold,
and by working a day or two in the week, or
by begging, or stealing, he acquires the ability
to keep soul and body in unity till  the  next.
winter, when he returns to his old quarters.
   Is this charity ? Call it  by any other name,
style it a virtue, if you think it be a virtue,
but call it not charity.  What! can that be
a  spirit of benevolence which fosters to des-
troy ! Is that humanity,  which caresses to
make more miserable ? No, it cannot be.  It
is not charity that  succours the  helpless from
the chilling blasts of winter, and then resigns
its objects to drunkenness, and to vice of
every grade,  for  the  remainder of  the year.
It is a non-descript sort of feeling, a kind of
half-way charity,  that is,  unfortunately,  but
too popular.
   If it be said, that  such restraint as I  advo-
cate  is  inconsistent  with the  principles oi'
liberty, I answer, that paupers, for  the most
part, are not fit persons to enjoy the blessing
of libcrt}*, as other people enjoy it.  They
                             D 
38
know not how to use  without abusing  it.
They convert that into a great evil, which was
intended to subserve the most extensive good.
On this account, such persons are better in a
state of confinement, than when they are suf-
fered to run at large.  They are then pre-
vented from molesting others, while they also
da-themselves less injury, and often promote
their real welfare.
  But the greatest evil in our alms-house, and
that to  what 1 have already adverted,  is the
indiscriminate association of all characters in
one common society.  This evii, is so unna-
tural, so repugnant to common sense and rea-
son, that I  cannot but wonder that it  has so
long prevailed.  How much better would it
be, to have particular apartments allotted to
particular  classes.   How  many who have
once lolled on the couch  of ease, and enjoyed
the pleasures and gaieties of life, are  at last re-
duced  to indigence, and feel the painful ne-
cessity of flying for refuge to an alms-house !
In such an institution, we often find those who
have been nurtured with tenderness and have
never known till now the miseries of poverty.
We meet with those,  who have  lived up-
rightly, and whose reputations have never been
impeached. On the other hand, an alms-house
always contains many victims of folly,  of vice
in every shape.
   The distinctions between integrity and  de-
pravity, virtue and vice, should not  be  en- 
39
veloped by the regulations of a charitable in-
stitution.   It  should always  be  most stre-
nuously attended  to, and no  institution can
ever be truly  benevolent, until this discrimi-
nation of  characters, constitutes an essential
feature in its government.  Those who have
been  respectable  in affluence  should be as-
sembled together.   They should have a dif-
ferent kind of treatment,  a different mode of
support from  those who have been and con-
tinue to be vicious.   The latter sect should
be divided into classes according to the de-
gree  or extent of their vicious propensities,
and  they should be properly  corrected for
their  aberrations from rectitude, by a careful
superintendent.
  But, the objections now made, apply not
only to a state of health;  they are much more
applicable to disease.
  The discrimination  of characters should
never be forgotten  in the sick  wards.  The
unhappy sufferer, who has once in his life time
enjoyed the luxuries of the world, now tor-
tured with bodily pains,  will  often sink be-
neath the additional pressure of  mental dis-
quiet, arising from  the neglect of distinction
between  good and bad characters.   How la-
mentable, how distressing to reflect, that even
the  last moments of life, are often  rendered
doubly miserable, by the selfish spirit of  af-
fected  benevolence.   Away with such con-
tracted views; they are disgraceful to civi- 
40
 Used societv,  and have no parallel in savage
 life.
   The wards of  an alms-house should be di-
 vided  into  small  rooms; large enough  for
 convenience, and well supplied with fresh and
 wholesome air.   Not more than three or four
 sick persons should be contained in each room,
 and these should  be  associated according to
 the circumstances of character, &c.
   It is of much consequence, that care should
 be had in the  selection of nurses.   The nur-
 ses commonly met with in an alms-house,  are
 of doubtful character, at best, and not unfre-
 quently, they  are  dishonest.   I  have known
 examples of the latter kind, and  have seen
 fatal effects resulting from their improper con-
 duct.  Patients often  suffer  materially, and
 death has been sometimes accelerated from
 this source.   It is plain, therefore, that all the
 measures which may be adopted for the com-
 fort and convenience of the sick poor, will be
 frustrated,  by  neglecting to  provide honest
 and careful nurses.
   There is  another evil in our charitable  in-
 stitutions, relative to the sick.  There are no
vooms provided, for those in a state of conva-
lescence ; a state  which requires much care,
not only to complete the cure, but likewise to
avoid a relapse.   On this account, it is ob-
 vious, that rooms should be allotted to this ob-
ject alone. It would be much more agreeable
 to a physician attending  such an institution ; 
41
 it would be much more salutary to the pa-
 tients, and would  be better calculated to pre-
 serve order.
   Regulations, such as those just mentioned,
 would  give a new aspect to  an alms-house.
 No longer would  the virtuous poor, hesitate
 to enter the abodes of charity.   Assured that
 their companions  would still be such as they
 had always enjoyed, they would no longer re-
 fuse the proffered hand of benevolence.   All
 descriptions of persons, being thus  placed in
 their own proper  conditions,  and moving in.
 their appropriate spheres, would then realise
 the blessings of charity, and remain contented
 with their situation.   The miserable creature
 of deformity, and the tottering frame of old
 age, would no longer be seen, through all our
 streets,  exciting  commiseration  and  pity.
 Finding at  last  a comfortable  home,  they
 would fly to the open doors of hospitality, and
 rest in peace.
  It is a fact worthy of being noticed, that the
 poor in  giving aid to  persons more indigent
 than themselves,  always display more gene-
 rosity  in proportion to  their  circumstances,
 than the rich.  The author of  the studies  of
 nature has a pleasing anecdote, illustrative of
 the truth of this remark.   He  once stopped
 to view  a poor mendicant,  seated on a  post.
 A great many well-dressed people passed by,
without  giving  him  any  thing;  but there
were very few servant-girls, or women loaded 
42
with-baskets, who did not stop to bestow their
•-harity.   He wore a well-powdered peruque,
with his hat under his arm, was dressed in an
old surtout,  his  linen white  and clean, and
every  article so trim, that you would have
thought these  poor people  were  receiving
alms  from him  and not  giving them.  It is
-impossible'says the author to refer this senti-
uient of generosity in the common people to
any  secret suggestion of self  interest, as the
enemies of mankind alledge, in taking upon
* hem to explain the causes of compassion.
   1  would attribute this superior  generosity
?n the poor, to a more genuine, deep-seated
»vmpathy, which pervades their breasts. The}'
know by experience, the sorrows of want, and
whenever they find an object more wretched
than  themselves,  their  ability to lessen  his
misery, if they possess such ability, is roused
into active exertion,  without delay.
   The poor therefore, afford examples, which
should be sufficient inducements to the af-
tment, to be more industrious in their labours
of benevolence.-  But unfortunately, those
who  have the means to  do good, frequently
"have no desire,  while those who are  anxious
 to relieve distress are destitute of the means.
   1 have often wondered that the charitable
 and humane had not seen the propriety 'of an
 establishment for the reception of the insane
.poor.*  In some institutions it is true, a few
             * bee the Conclusion. 
43
of this class find admittance ; but in such in-
stances, it is esteemed a kind of favour, a de«
viation from prescribed rule.
  An  institution  calculated to contain one
hundred persons, and possessing all the con-
veniencies proper in such an establishment,
would do immortal honour to  its  founders,
and would long stand as a monument of true
benevolence, as  the pride and  glory  of the
state.
  Such an institution, should receive, not only
those who are insane,  according to the gene-
ral acceptation of the term, but it should be
free of access to all indigent persons, convict-
ed of that blackest of crimes,  murder.   The
good sense  of the late Dr. Rush, led him to
reprobate in strong terms, the irrational prac-
tice of punishing by death, for the crime of
murder.  He wisely recommended, as a sub-
stitute,, the mad-house. The unhappy culprit
confined in  the solitary cell, would be more
severely punished, than he could possibly be,
by any mode of death.  By thus extending the
design of a  mad-house, we render an essential
service to society.  We thus discover that true
spirit of benevolence,  which flows only from
the tender soul  of the philanthropist.   True
benevolence is more closely concerned in the
mental welfare of mankind, than in their bo-
dily concerns.   There is certainly much im-
propriety, in associating all kinds of convicts
%in the same common prison.  There should, 
44
Unquestionably, be a distinction between those
who have been but once convicted of crime,
and those who have been notorious for their
guilt.  The former are made worse by being
mixed with the latter, and  the  depravity of
their hearts is thereby increased.
   I think that much good would result from
the establishment of a building, for the recep-
tion of persons,  who had been seduced by old
offenders, into the walks of vice.   There col-
lected, and well watched, they might frequently
regain their lost character for virtue and res-
pectability.  "We bestow," said a great man,
"much stufty and labour, in restoring the wan-
dering reason of our fellow creatures, in sup-
porting the vigour of their bodies,  but we
neglect their«erring hearts. We erect splendid
and commodious buildings to confine persons,
whom intellectual derangement has rendered
dangerous to society, and we employ our skill
and humanity to relieve them;  but  with an
unmerciful impatience, we consign persons,
whom moral derangement has rendered  mis-
chievous, to the exterminating axe and halter;
and those whose moral faculty has been less
impaired, are destined,  indiscriminately, to
one common house of confinement."
   There  is more  necessity for an asylum for
poor persons, who  have  committed  capital
crimes, than for those in affluent circumstan-
ces; because, unfortunately, wealth has an
astonishing  power in  lessening the enormity 
45
of crime, in the popular opinion.  But a poor
man, despised already by many on account of
his poverty,  is now altogether forsaken ; and
his crime is  often viewed with more detesta-
tion, simply because he  is poor. For this rea-
son, an  institution for the poor, whom moral
derangement has induced to commit murder,
must  be desired by every  truly benevolent
man.
  I think it is hardly necessary to  say any
thing on the  propriety  of substituting con-
finement in  the place of capital punishment.
The latter has been  so justly  deprecated by
able writers, as to have  effected an important
revolution   in popular  sentiment.   It  is
strange, that  any person,  calling  himself a
Christian, and professing to be a follower of
the precepts of Christianity could  have ever
advocated the odious practice of taking away
the life of  any man, as reparation for the
crime of  murder.  Strange  indeed,  " that
Christians should continue to enforce the law,
for shedding human blood, which  was deli-
vered upon  mount  Ararat,  and many of the
subsequent  laws  of the  Jewish legislature for
the same purpose, after  their total  repeal up-
on mount Calvary.  In vain shall  we expect
to hear  the whole truth from our witnesses in
our courts of law, while its penalties are op-
posed by the dictates of humanity and justice.
By substituting  expiatory  confinement and
labour,  and the power of medicine, according 
46
to circumstances, for capital punishment; and
by rendering all other punishments  less se-
vere, and more certain, we shall  restore  the
original harmony between the virtues, and
thereby add greatly to the reputation of our
courts, and to the order and happiness of so-
ciety."   Perhaps, it would not be prudent to
devote a hospital  to  the  reception of those
convicts, whose circumstances of affluence
would permit them  to reside there.   But, as
the poor and rich are  on an equal footing  in
relation to crime, it would be more judicious
to prevent any sort of distinction  between
wealthy and indigent  culprits.  The institu-
tion should be known by a name, that would
not carry with it, the least degree of odium,
and it should be supported by taxation.
   Those, however,  whose  circumstances
would  admit, should be  charged a reason-
able sum for their lodging and maintenance ;
and the trustees of the institution should hold
the property of such persons in trust, during
confinement, and until their expenses should
be defrayed.
  But  an institution of the sort just mention-
ed, differs materially from that which should
be appropriated to the benefit of poor persons,
who are insane, according to the general ac-
ceptation of that term.   Such an institution
is very much wanted, and would better cha-
racterise the benevolence of a people, than
monuments of brass or marble.  Its benefi- 
47
cence would live in the memory of posterity,
and the children's children of those who had
been there restored to reason, would venerate
the names of its worthy founders.  May we
not hope, that the  day, when such an estab-
lishment shall be founded, is not far distant!
alas !  for suffering humanity, that it has  not
already arrived, that its benign  influence has
not long since cheered a world of woe.
   While on the subject of establishments for
the insane, it may not be amiss to introduce
the following very sensible remarks of a be-
nevolent man.  " A great many physical re-
medies are employed for the cure of madness;
and it frequently proceeds from a moral cause.
for it is produced by chagrin.  Might there
not be a possibility to employ,  for the resto-
ration of reason to those disordered beings,
means directly opposed to those which occa-
sioned the loss of reason; I mean, mirth, plea-
sure, and above all,  the pleasure of music ?
We see, from the instance of Saul, and many
others of a similar nature, what influence mu-
sic possesses for re-establishing the harmony
of the mind.  With this  ought to be united
the most gentle treatment and care to place
the unhappy patients, when visited with pa-
roxysms of rage, not under the restraints of
fetters, but in an apartment, matted  round,
where they could do no mischief to themselves
or others.  I am persuaded that, by employing
such humane precautions, numbers might be 
                   48

restored, especially if they were  under the
charge of persons who had no interest in per-
petuating their derangement.  It would like-
wise be proper, to commit the care of men
disordered in their understanding, to females,
and that of females to men, on account of the
mutual sympathyof thesexesfor each other."*
  The  establishment  of  Dispensaries  mark-
ed an important era in the history of bene-
volent  and useful institutions.   They  have
been the means of doing much  good, and
within their walls,  the poor have realised the
kindness of hospitality.
  The Philadelphia Dispensary is the best in-
stitution of this sort,  that  is to be found in
our country.  It  is supported by donations
and annual contributions  from charitable per-
sons.    These are called contributors, and
diey are at liberty to  recommend  objects to
the care of the physicians attending the insti-
tution.  The physicians receive no pecuniary7
emolument for their services, and are gene-
rally composed of young men.  They attend
at the institution to prescribe for patients who
arc able to go there, and they attend those who
are unable to leave their  home, at  their place
of residence.
  Thus, much good is done for the sick poor.
But I am sure that the plans  of such institu-
tions will admit  of  improvement.   I have
* See Studies of Nature. 
49
known many disadvantages to arise from what
I conceive to be a defect in the plan of the
Philadelphia Dispensary ; I mean that of ne-
glecting to allow some sort of compensation
for the services of the physicians.  This is no
fault of the founders and promoters of the in-
stitution ; because it  is probable, they bestow
as much to its support, as their circumstances
will justify. The plan as it now exists, is pro-
bably  quite as  liberal, as  the state  of their
funds  will admit.
   It may be said that physicians are  easily
obtained to perform the various duties requir-
ed, without pecuniary reward.  But  I know
from an acquaintance with the circumstances,
that much less care and solicitude has been
bestowed, than would be the case, if the phy»
sicians received salaries.  It has been already
stated  that the physicians of such institutions
are generally young men; at all events, they
are persons who have  not been so fortunate
as  to  acquire extensive business.   For this
very reason, if no other existed, some kind
of salary should be  annexed to the  station.
If men of talents and  experience who had re
tired from business, and had become wealthy,
would  devote a part of their time to such in-
stitutions, the case would then be entirely
otherwise, and a compensation would be un-
necessary.
  If such an institution were established  by
the state legislature, and its funds raised  by
                              E 
50
taxation, a better system of charity woultf be
obtained, than is now in existence.  If a tenth
of the sum given by any contributor to the
Dispensary, were required from every indivi-
dual, in the way of taxation, it would not only
be a more equable mode, but it would be a
much more  beneficial one ;  because all the
objections  to  the  present  system,  arising
from deficient funds, would then be removed.
The direction of the institution could be ex-
actly as that of the Philadelphia Dispensary ;
that is, in the hands of a number of Managers.
  From the  very great benefits arising from
the Dispensary in its present state, there is no
doubt  that much more  good would result
from an improvement of the plan, in the way
that I have mentioned.  It is to be lamented,
that such  institutions are  not more generally
encouraged.  I am sure that in point of real
service to society, the Philadelphia Dispensary
is far preferable to the Pennsylvania Hospital,
although the latter institution has  occasionally
received legislative patronage.  The Dispen-
sary is  more truly an institution of benevo-
lence.   Its system  is much more charitable,
and its numerous patients are a sufficient evi-
dence of its extensive  utility.
  But, nevertheless, I am not to be understood
as depreciating the importance of the Hospital.
Its promoters merit the thanks of all good men,
in proportion to the degree of charity that has
been displayed in that  institution. 
51
  Another sort of charitable  establishments,
requires a little attention,  I mean, the Hos-
pitable  societies  of  our city.  I regret that
the plan of our alms-house, is not of such a
nature,  as to preclude  the necessity^ of such
institutions.  If  that were correct, if discri-
mination of character constituted an essential
feature  in its government, if all were required
to move in their  proper spheres,  these hospi-
table societies need  not exist.  I do not find
fault with these societies,  nor with their foun-
ders.   I admire the one and  venerate the
other.   It is the  defect in our alms-house dis-
cipline, of which I complain, as causing much
trouble  and inconvenience  to  individuals,
without the  smallest degree  of  absolute ne.
cessity.  These  societies  assist only such as
are deemed worthy; the infamous and prof-
ligate are not noticed by them.   The objects
of these institutions, refuse the charity  of the
alms-house, for no other reason, than because
they would there be liable to mix with the
most depraved characters.
   But  as long  as error  prevails in the regula-
tion  of our  alms-house, hospitable  societies
will be very necessary.   Their promoters are
justly entitled  to the  applause of mankind.
Their charity is  not of that speculative qua-
lit}-, which consists in  words or professions.
They test their principles by their actions of
benevolence.   They visit the miserable hut;
clothe the naked and feed the hungry.   And 
52
what is their reward ?  Is it the empty bubble
of affected praise,  the  alluring enticement of
pecuniary recompense ? Oh no; they are re-
warded by the  grateful thanks of the widow
and the fatherless, and the blessings of "him
that  was ready to perish," are liberally  bes-
towed.   Nor  are  these the only sources of
satisfaction. The pleasing reflection of having
soothed  the sufferings of  the distressed,  of
having ministered to the wants of the needy,
is far more gratifying.
  If  it were possible for these societies, by
any prudent means, to instruct the small chil-
dren under their care, in the elementary parts
of education, much more benefit would result
from their labours.   This is so very  important
a point in the  dispensations of charity,  that
too much cannot be said on the subject.   In
addition to this, great  care should be taken
to have  them  taught some   useful  trade.
Without this, they will in  all  probability, be
indigent and miserable through life.
  Much credit is due to the humane founders
of those institutions, designed for the recep-
tion of aged and respectable old women, be-
longing  to  particular  religious persuasions.
They are thus rescued from want, and saved
the disagreeable necessity of taking refuge in
an alms-house.  They  are in all cases, persons
who have lived well in early life, and to whom
a state of poverty, or  even the charity of  an
aims-house, would be almost insupportable. 
53
  Indigence, in itself, is not a source of evil,
necessarily.   But it is converted into a direful
engine of extensive wretchedness, by its va-
rious concomitants.   If mankind, generally,
did not  associate disrespect with a  state of
poverty, it would be easily supportable,  and
not so frequently prove the cause of so much
distress.  This, however, is  a fault, which
cannot easily be removed.  It is fixed, deeply
fixed in popular opinion, and the latter must
be  renovated, before the former can be abo-
lished.
  The distinctions between moral and immo-
ral  characters is not at all at  variance with
these remarks.  It is  rather a  necessary  ap-
pendage to complete the system.  A vicious
poor man should never receive so much re-
gard, as a virtuous poor man.   In all states
of poverty a strict attention should be paid to
circumstances, otherwise, much less good will
follow the exercise of benevolent actions.  .
E 2 
54
             CHAPTER  IV.
                     #
Provision for  disabled Soldiers—A national Astj
  lum for their reception—The children of wound-
  ed Soldiers to be supported by  Government—An
  Asylum for them also.

    OUR government has provided  for the
support of persons disabled in its service, by
means of pensions.  This necessary provision
has always been productive of very beneficial
consequences.
   There are many, however, who are with-
out families, and who would be much better
situated in a public institution.   For this rea-
son, a national asylum should be erected, for
(he reception of all persons  disposed to go
there, who had been  so maimed in  the ser-
vice of their country, as to be unable to gain
u livelihood.                             /
   A capacious edifice should  be erected in
 some agreeable situation, large  enough to ac-
 commodate  all who might be desirous of re-
 siding there. It should be provided with pro-
 per superintendents, and all the conveniencies
 of life.
    If such an establishment were formed, in
 which the soldier knew that he could be sup-
 ported comfortably,  on his return from the 
55
noise of war, covered with wounds and scars,
what an inducement would he realise, to fight
the battles of his country boldly and faithfully?
 Thousands would enter the service willingly,
who now hesitate, and even refuse.
   But in addition to this, the government is
bound by gratftude, to provide such an asy-
lum for the  war worn soldier.  It is but just,
that he who has defended his country's rights
at the risk of his life, should be treated with
kindness, and supported with liberality, after
he has been maimed in so honourable a cause.
What sight  can be more disgraceful to any
country, than that of a poor old soldier, beg-
ging in the public streets!
   In such an asylum as that which I have
suggested, there  would be many,  capable of
doing some  sort of work, by  which some pe-
cuniary emolument would accrue to the insti-
tution.  Those who might possess the ability,
would rather perform some kind of labour than
remain idle.  In addition to this, it would con-
duce to their health, to use occasionally a mo-
derate degree of exertion, and moreover, it
would prevent quarrelling or disputes, among
those who might be so disposed.
   In addition to an asylum of  the kind now
suggested, it would be proper to have another,
for the children of those  who may have been
killed in the service of their country.   In this
asylum, the children, besides being supported,
should be educated. 
56
  The good effects resulting from  such an
asylum, would be very great. The assurance,
that his children would be well  provided for,
and even educated, would be ample encour-
agement to the  soldier.   The  confidence in
the liberality of his country,  thus  inspired,
would prompt  him  to  greater activity  and
fidelity.  In addition to this, a love of coun-
try  would be inspired in  the breasts of the
children.  They  would thus learn to venerate
the country, whose gratitude for the services
of the father, extended to the protection and
support of  his children.   Such  an asylum
would beget in the breasts of all its subjects,
that real love of country,  of which  so many
boast, who are at the same time  ignorant of
its  true nature.
  The nominal patriots of our  day, whose
love of country  extends no further than to
mere professions, would  do well to make a
display of their boasted  patriotism, by the
erection of an edifice for the support of the
infirm soldiers of our country.  There are
many among this class (for it is unhappily but
too numerous) whose abilities would enable
them to contribute largely to such  an estab-
lishment.
    Men of the  above description,  however,
 when urged on  such topics, are  but too apt
 to  treat them with much indifference, or with
 total neglect. It is to be lamented, that while
 the real lovers of country, who delight in sup- 
57
porting the honour of their government, by
their solicitous regard for the happiness of the
defenders of their country's rights, are very
few in number,  the  brawling  patriots  of the
day, whose chief care is self aggrandizement,
are every where to be found. The latter kind
of beings bring disgrace, not honour, to the
country which they  infest.  They are at all
times to be avoided, as dangerous men; they
cannot exist but by their duplicity.
  In some countries, national burial grounds
have been formed, for no other purpose than
to inspire an attachment to the  government.
But these are of trifling consequence compared
to asylums for the reception of disabled  sol-
diers, and their children.   The  former can
render no service to  those, who are made the
subjects of them, for if they be tributes of res-
pect at all, they are posthumous tributes only,
and of course, not worth a name.  But the
latter are monuments of  gratitude,   to  be
realised and enjoyed, by the aged and infirm.
They are designed to make the close of life
comfortable,  and the last hours of existence
happy.   They are designed to  protect the
orphan, to raise him through the period of
youth, and to inspire in his breast, a  lasting
veneration for his country.  For these reasons,
such institutions  are truly desirable.   The
country, whose rulers are influenced by pru-
dence and judgment, will not  long remain in 
58
want of these necessary characteristics of na-
tional greatness.
  It would be no difficult matter to form in
such an asylum,  an extensive seminary, in
which  many might be educated in the disci-
pline of government, whose talents at a future
day, might serve to direct the affairs of the
nation.  At all events, a great number of chil-
dren might be  there instructed, who would
otherwise, have remained ignorant, and per-
haps miserable through life.
  It is high time, that some such institutions
as these, should be formed.  It is indeed, dis-
graceful, that those who have  been  wounded
in the defence of their country, should termi-
nate their existence, in the sick  wards of a
badly regulated alms house.  It is not less to
be  lamented, that the orphans of those who
have fallen in battle, are not  taken  into the
public charge, supported and educated at the
public expense.   What are a few hundred
acres of land, or of what consequence is a piti-
ful  pension, to the wounded and disabled sol-
dier ?  How much better would it be, to have
a national asylum, in which he could repose in
comfort, and end his days  in peace!  The
subject is of infinite  importance,  and  well
merits the notice  of our government.
  Let it not be understood, from the preced-
ing remarks, that I am an advocate for war.
Far be it from me, to stand forth as the cham-
pion of such a measure;  I conceive it to be 
59
not only opposed to the spirit of philanthropy,
but also repugnant to reason.  I grant that it
is indeed, natural, or in other words, that it is
a state of nature.  The brute creation evince
a state of warfare on frequent occasions ;  and
in proportion to the want of the exercise  of
reason, will be the prevalence of  this  warlike
disposition.  But although I consider war to
be irrational, yet there are some circumstances
which may render it necessary.   On  this ac-
count, it is highly proper, to provide for every
exigency ; and  one of the most  important
things to be attended to,  is the support  of
those who have been disabled in the service
of their country.  These  and their offspring
have claims on the government,  under which
they live, which the most friendly regard can
scarcely  compensate.   It, therefore, becomes
a free people, to reward, at  least with hospi-
tality, those  who have suffered in the main*
tenance of their  rights.
   I have not included sailors in the above re*
marks; but the  same observations are equally
applicable to them.  They have added lustre
to  our national  character,  and their services
should meet the reward which is due to them.
   There is in short, no class of men, who have
rendered their country a service at any time,
who do not merit our respect.  They should
be caressed when unfortunate, we should  suc-
cour them in indigence.  Let  this free,  this
happy country,  that has been so  long distin> 
60
guished for its peculiar privileges, embellish
its national character, by acts of hospitality
and benevolence. May the period soon arrive,
when the United States shall be as celebrated
for the love of charity, as for the love of Liberty
and Independence, that pervades the hearts of
the people! 
61
              CHAPTER  V.

Diseases of Infancy—Mortality of the ySummer-
  sickness—Hospital for poor sick children—Old
  age— Conclusion.

  WHEN Lord Bacon declared, that "know-
ledge is power," he had, no doubt, a refer-
ence to the general diffusion of Science. The
nature of the human mind is such, that it will
ever be eager for the acquisition of informa-
tion,  in  proportion as it has already learned.
Much labour has been employed during the
fast century, to establish a rational system of
education; and it has been imagined by some,
that the object has been attained. This, how-
ever,  is far from being the case ;  for no  sys-
tem of education can be perfect, unless it  em-
braces every species of knowledge, that  jean
add to the  comfort and happiness of life.
  The late Professor  Rush anticipated the
time when medical principles will be taught
in our seminaries of learning, and when the
mass  of  mankind will be tolerably  well ac-
quainted with the mode of curing diseases.
" Yes," said this illustrious physician, " the
time,  I believe will come, when, from the per-
fection of our science, men shall be so well
acquainted with the mode of destroying poi*
                              F 
62
sons, that they  'shall tread  upon  scorpions-
and serpents,' without being injured by there.
Suspended animation, if it should occur in
that enlightened state of the  world, shall no
more expose the subjects of it to premature
interment.   Pestilential  diseases shall then
cease to spread terror and death over half the
globe, for interest and prejudice shall no longer
oppose the removal of the obvious and offen-
sive causes which  produce them.   Hospitals
shall be unknown.  The groans of  pain, the
ravings of madness, and the sighs of melan-
choly shall be heard  no  more.  The  cradle
and the tomb, shall no longer be related, for
old age shall then be universal."
  Such are the remarks of the  most enlight-
ened physician that ever  adorned the world.
He wished the profession of  medicine to be
stripped of every thing that looked like mys-
tery and imposture, and to clothe it  in a dress
so simple and intelligible, that  it might be-
come a part of academical education in all se-
minaries of learning.  " Truth," said he,  " is
simple  upon  all  subjects, but upon those
v?hich are essential to the general happiness
of  mankind, it is  obvious to  the meanest ca-
pacity.  There is no man so simple, that can-
not be taught to cultivate grain,  and no  wo-
man  so devoid  of understanding  as  to be
incapable of learning how to  make that grah\
Into bread.   And  shall the means of preserv-
ing our health by  the culture and preparation 
63
of aliment be so intelligible, and yet the means
of restoring it, when lost, be so abstruse, as to
require years of study to discover and apply
them ? To suppose this is to call in question,
the goodness of the Supreme Being."
   " In no one of the acts of man do we behold
more weakness and error,  than in the present
modes of  education.    We  teach our sons
words at the expense of things.   We teach
them what was done two thousand years ago,
and conceal from them what is doing every  ,
day.  We teach them to predict eclipses, and
the return of comets, from which no physical
advantages worth naming  have ever been de-
rived, but we give them no instruction in the
signs which precede general and individual  -
diseases.   How long shall the mind bend be-
neath the usages of ancient and barbarous
times ?   When shall we  cease  to be mere
scholars, and become wise philosophers  and
useful men ?"  I consider these remarks as
the best recommendation for the general dif*  '
fusion of medical knowledge, and I am proud
of the present opportunity  of avowing my  at-
tachment to such  principles.
   I know that many who are called members
of the medical profession, will find fault with
this  undertaking.  They  will consider it as
a kind of larceny,  by which I deprive them
of part of their subsistence.  But I know, as-
suredly, that no man who learned from Rush,
who imbibed his  principles,  will murmur in 
64
the least.   Such characters will be pleased
with every attempt to disseminate the impor-
tant truths  which their great preceptor pro-
mulgated ; they will rejoice to behold that era,
when medical knowledge shall be familiarised
to the multitude.  In so rejoicing,  they will
only discover their good sense, and show that
they are true philanthropists.
   If these remarks produce no  other effect,
than to enable those who read it to watch the
practice of their physicians, to  guard against
the encroachments of empiricism, I  shall  be
amply repaid for my labour.  But I hope  it
will do more;  I trust that it will tend to make
every  man  his own physician, in  all cases
which are not apparently desperate.
   It must be confessed, however, that an ac-
quaintance with the healing art, must be un-
known to certain classes of mankind ; I mean
those who lead lives of habitual intemperance,
or who labour under mental imbecility.  But
fortunately, these are not destitute of medical
resources.  Dispensaries have been established
and hospitals  have been erected in different
parts of our country, where the best medical
attendance is given to those who are unquali-
fied to manage their own infirmities, or the
diseases  of each other.   For,  let .it be un-
derstood, that no person should attempt  the
cure of his own diseases, when they are violent
or dangerous, since a sick man is never  a
*rise  man. 
65
  To Dispensaries, the poor of all descriptions
have free access, and these supply the place of
individual acquaintance with the phenomena
and cure of disease.
  Persons affected with madness,  are neces-
sarily excluded from that class of men, who
may acquire an useful degree of medical know-
ledge.   Happily, however, these  are  not left
to the rude hands of nature,  on this account.
Asylums for insanity have reared their hospi-
table heads  in various parts of our country.
They  should be encouraged by all persons*,
because all classes of men may have equal oc-
casion to participate  in their benefits ;  for hu-
man  nature,  in every  form,  becomes the
mournful object of such institutions.   Othef
diseases permit man  to be a rational and moral
agent;  but lunacy subverts the whole charac-
ter,  extinguishes  every  tender charity, and
excludes the degraded sufferer from all the en-
joyments and advantages of social intercourse.
  In this disease, it is plain, that  more than
a mere superficial knowledge of medicine is
requisite in  order to  effect a cure.   Its mode
of treatment, therefore, must still remain with
physicians,  with those who have studied the*
whole nature of man, both physical and merf-
tal.  For it  must be remembered, that'mere.
physical knowledge  alone,  will not^be^suiji* '
cient; the profoundest skill in the philos^fen?'^
©f human nature,is requisite.       ;./  J. >"Jji
  Besides  all  these exceptions, - therev&ft?D
                          f 2 
66
Others,  which  should be consigned,  exclu-
sively, to the practitioner of surgery.  Cases
of this kind cannot  become the  familiar ob.
jects of mankind, generally, because, a consi-
derable space of time, and much practice is
necessary, in order to fortify the mind for the
performance of delicate and painful operations.
  But notwithstanding  all these exceptions,
the general principle is still a good one.   Men
who possess adequate talents,  should devote
a portion of their time to the study of the out-
lines of medicine.   Parents, thus instructed,
would be enabled to pre vent" half the diseases
of their children, by opposing them in their
forming  state.   They  could  do this easier
than physicians, because they are more con-
stantly in company with them, and of course
are more familiar.   If such knowledge were
thus generally diffused,  the physician  would
not be so often roused from his  slumber, to
mitigate a transient pain, or to remove a tri-
fling illness.  Three or  four physicians and
surgeons would then be sufficient for a whole
city. "Casualties," as Dr. Rush,  well observ-
ed, "will render professional character- neces-
sary ;" and such diseases as occur rarely, will
always require medical aid.
  My qbject in this treatise is to impress on
the minrl t^ose correct principles in medicine,
wJiJbtQut^ >#UGjy, no  man can  prescribe  with
any degree of certainty of success.   Having
em^rac;e4^hese, principles, it will be easy, to 
67
understand most of the insulated facts in medi-
cine, and to administer remedies with judge-
ment and accuracy.  No longer will a medi-
cine be received as a magic power, whose ope-
ration is too obscure to be known; but every
dose will then be given for some obvious pur-
pose, and on reasonable grounds.
   Some of the medical profession may es-
teem this plan as degrading to the  philoso-
phy of their  science; but it is far otherwise.
Benevolence may bestow its regard on a few
objfcts, and even thus contracted, it will be
amiable.   But when it flows from the tender
soul of a hospitable  Howard, and scatters its
benign influence  over  whole countries, its
splendour for a while, obscures the depravity
of human nature.  And what is medicine, but
a grand system of benevolence?
   May the time soon come, when the nature
of  the human structure,  both  physical  and
mental, shall  constitute an  essential  part of
polite education, and be a characteristic mark
of an enlightened mind! The constitution of
man is a subject of great importance, and one
that is highly  pleasing  to the inquirer  after
knowledge.
   The formation  of man from the dust of the
earth, teaches us that his body is a  material
fabric.  He is then, on an equality with every
other form in nature, only differing in his ex-^
ternal appearance and internal conformation.
We arc taught by the researches of the fcite* 
68
  Dr. Rush, that animal life originated in and is
  perpetuated by the agency of impressions act-
  ing on our bodies.  We are moved, as a ship
  by the wind and tide, and could not exist for
  one moment, if impressions ceased to operate.
  These impressions are the air around us, the
  aliment we eat, and every other circumstance
  which can possibly  assist in the  support of a
  living body.
     It is not improbable, but that life may be
  the result of chemical  affinities;  but with
  this,  we are  not to be concerned at  present.
  Our object is to impress on the mind, that from
  the very first moment of our existence  we
  are necessarily dependent on external agents^
  there  is no source of life within us, no power
  capable of preserving us an instant, but  that
  all is passive, and influenced by  impressions.
  "We are kept alive," said a philosopher, "by
  force,  for all the agents that support life act
  necessarily, as much so as the wind  to move
  a passive ship."
     All  that remains to be said of disease,  is
  dependent on this principle. We cure disease
  by a knowledge of the phenomena of life during
  the healthy state.   Knowing that life is the
* result of a certain quantity of stimuli acting
  on our bodies, we regulate the powers of me*
  dicine, accordingly, for the restoration of lost
  health.   Without  some knowledge  of this
  kind, all medical practice would  be gross en> 
69
piricism, and all our success would be merely
accidental.
  This being the case, it is highly important,
to bear in mind a general view of the nature
of life; to know by what means it is produced,
and supported.  Thus informed we will be
better able to reason in  medicine, to form an
opinion of disease, and to decide  on the reme-
dies most proper to effect a cure.  A know-
ledge of all the minute circumstances requisite
to a full  investigation of the subject, is not
absolutely requisite  for the present purpose.
A general acquaintance will suffice, to  direct
the zealous inquirer in the right path.
  The subject of Predispositions, is import-
ant, and every person should possess a gene-
ral knowledge of it.
  The name Predisposition was substituted
by Dr. Rush in the place of Temperaments.
Several synonyms have been employed, as
Idiosyncracies, Individual peculiarities,  &c.
either  of which  would answer  equally well
with predisposition,  as  conveying the same
idea.   But I prefer the latter, because it con-
veys more immediately to the mind, the thing
meant.
  The predominance of this or that system of
organs modifies the  whole animal economy,
impresses obvious differences on the results of
organization, and has not less influence over
the moral and intellectual, than over the phy-
sical faculties. Those who have used the term 
70
Temperaments, have divided them into seve-
ral different kinds;  this division is so unphi-
losophical, as to give improper ideas of the
seat of disease.   Thus, the Sanguineous tem-
perament presupposes disease  in  the blood,
whereas it should place it in the vessels. The
Bilious temperament presupposes disease  of
the bUe,  whereas the primary seat of the dis-
ease  is in the liver.   Thus it is with all the
Temperaments; their application is  necessa-
rily connected with the humoral pathology of
the old schools of Medicine.   For these rea-
sons, it is best to adopt the term Predisposi-
tion.
  By predisposition is meant,  an aptitude  or
tendency,  either natural or acquired, in any
part of the body, to take on and produce dis-
eased  action.  Native  predisposition is that
which we bring into the world at  birth; it
may he filial and hereditary.  It is filial when
a disease is derived from the father or mother;
it is hereditary, when derived from any ances-
tor.  A filial disease is always hereditary, but
a hereditary disease is not always filial. When
all the ancestors have  been affected with any
disease,  that disease in any of the  children,
Will be hereditary.   But if the  disease has  af-
fected the family, no farther back than the  fa-
ther or mother, then the disease in the offspring
is filial.
   Acquired predispositions are such as follow
improper treatment at birth, and during early 
71
infancy; such as falls, bruises,  injurious sti-
mulating substances rubbed on the body, &c.
From acquired predisposition, as well as that
which is natural, may result both  hereditary
and filial disease.  A natural predisposition,
which would otherwise be  filial in  the off-
spring, may become an acquired predisposi-
tion in subsequent generations,  by which the
natural family predisposition will be destroy*
ed.  Is it asked, how predisposition can be ex-
plained?   I answer, that it results from a pe-
culiar arrangement of the organic particles of
the human body.
   Dr. Rush used to enumerate several differ-
ent predispositions, named  according to the
greater tendency in one part than another, to
take on and  produce morbid action.  They
are the arterial, muscular, nervous, cutaneous,
alimentary, hepatic, lymphatic, nephritic, and
phrenitic predispositions.  Some persons are
possessed  of more than one of  these, but all
are born with  one  of them.   They some-
times  prevail in succession, in the  course
Of life.  Thus, in infancy, the alimentary and
cutaneous  predispositions  predominate.   In
more advanced  life,  the arterial,  muscular,
nervous, &c. according to difference of age.
   In the arterial predisposition, the  arteries
are affected, chiefly,  and the disease is, feverf
In the muscular predisposition, spasms occur,
and so on through the whole list of prcdispo
sitions. 
72
    The most important part of the subject of
  predispositions, is that which relates to acquir-
  ed predisposition.  Knowing the causes that
  may induce an aptitude to disease, we are bet-
  ter able to guard against their operation, and
  thus to prevent the occurrence of disease, very
  frequently.   In .this knowledge, and the due
  application of it,  consists, in very great mea-
  sure, the surest means of preserving health.
  There are many, very many circumstances
  obviously prejudicial to health,  which might
  be avoided with great ease.   Thus exposure
  to great vicissitudes of weather,  without due
  precautions, the excessive use of certain arti-
  cles, known to be injurious to particular con-
  stitutions, all exert a haneful influence on the
  system, and tend  to produce disease.
    It is only by adapting the stimuli of life
  to the circumstances of the system, and thus
  carefully guarding against every agent  capa-
  ble of destroying  health, that we can effectu-
  ally escape  the ravages of disease.  Health
 consists in an exact equilibrium of all the pow-
  ers of the  animal economy,  and it requires
  but a feeble cause in  many instances, to turn
  the scale, and produce a preponderance in fa-
  vour of disease.
    He therefore, and he only, who reflects on
  the nature  of the  human fabric, and inquires
 into the circumstances which  influence its
£■ healthy state, will ever be able to preserve his
 physical constitution in a sound  conditio!*. 
73
  The very little  regard that is paid to the
prevention of disease,  demands our attention
to the means of curing it when formed.  When
it wrecks the body, and prevails in all its vio-
lent forms, it arouses us to a sense of the value
of  health,  and  the  great  importance  of at-
tending to its preservation.  We are unable
to estimate any  blessing rightly, but by con-
trast.  Thus pleasure would cease to possess
half its attractive force, if we were not sensible
of the distress produced by its opposite, pain.
Virtue would lose most  of its charms, if vice
did not rise in competition, and thus increase
its splendor by comparison.  So with health;
we  know not what is its real worth,  until it is
supplanted by disease.    Strange  that such
apathy  should prevail in the minds of men.
But strange as  it is, it is  nevertheless true.
It becomes therefore our duty, to attend to the
restoration of this blessing when it has been
lost, and to endeavour, by every exertion to
eradicate disease from the family of mankind.
  The distresses incident to disease call upon
the benevolent and humane, by all the endear-
ing ties of nature.  But, the good of society is
so much concerned in the infant race, that an
attention to their diseases, is of infinite conse-
quence.
  Never spake the sacred historian more truly,
than when he declared, " that man is born to
trouble," that he  inherits, for his birth,  t{ie
miseries of his ancestors.  This allotment of
(r 
74
human nature is not only unavoidable, but it
is highly useful.  It enables us to form a bet-
ter estimate of happiness ; we learn to appre-
ciate pleasure, by its contrast with pain.
  There are two periods in  human life,  the
phenomena of which bear a striking resem-
blance to  each other.   These are,  infancy
and old  age, the two extremes of our exis-
tence.  It is therefore justly  said, " that we
are once men, and twice children."
  In both extremes of life, we lose our ability
to act and to provide for our necessities ;  and
we are obliged to depend on the aid of others.
But as  old age is the sure precursor of the
termination of life,  it requires less solicitude,
less Watchful care,  than the period of infancy.
The latter has only commenced a career, and
all is to  come; but  the former has well nigh
ended a course, in  which all is past.   On the
rising offspring, rests the hope of the world.
 To this, the soldier looks with flattering antici-
 pation for the defenders of his  country ;-to
 this, the christian directs the eye of anxious
 expectation, for the pillars of the church and
 the ornaments of religion; here virtue centers
 all her prospects, and bene\ olence beholds her
 future votaries.  All that is desirable in life,
 is founded on the rising  glory  of the infant
 race.
   An attempt has been made to estimate the
 proportion of children who die annually.  At
 least, one fourth of all who pay the debt of na- 
75
ture, have not attained the age of two years.
This evil might be remedied in great mea-
sure, by a stricter attention to the diseases of
infants.  Every mother, of common under-
standing, who has raised one child, should be
able to manage all her offspring, in the infant
state, without the  help  of a physician.   She
cannot do this, however, without some sound
medical knowledge.  Mothers and fathers to
a certain  degree,  from constant association
with children, are much better calculated to
judge correctly of their complaints, than phy-
sicians, who see them but  a few times.  They
know the temper and disposition of children ;
for they are discoverable at a very early period
of life; and they are of great  importance  in
the treatment of infantile  diseases.
   The most fatal disease  to which infants are
exposed, is known by the name of the  Sum-
mer sickness ; so called, because it occurs in
warm weather.   It is known to physicians by
the  name  of Cholera infantum.  It is often
rapid in its progress  and  very frequently fa-
tal in its termination, and destroys more chil-
dren,  than all the other diseases to which they
are liable.   On this account, it merit:,  pecu-
liar attention.
   The symptoms of the Summer sickness are
 so familiar to every person,  that it  would be
 altogether superfluous todescribe them.  They
 are easily to be found, in the  suburbs of our
 cities, in the  course of a  short walk through 
76
a few of the filthy streets.   The  dejected
head, hanging over a mother's arm, the pallid
face and sunken eye,  will not fail to  denote
the existence of this ravager of the infant race.
  But it is not only in the huts of misery and
want,  that this  disease finds its subjects; it
frequently prevails in more exalted ranks.  Va-
rious causes  operate for its production, and
all of them are under our control.  Some un-
healthy local circumstance may be sufficient
to excite the disease.   I believe, that the foul
sinks in the cellars of many fine houses,  are
frequently  the  sources of this, and  other af-
fections.   Whatever  is obviously  unclean,
and odious to any of the senses, may produce
the  Summer  sickness.   Where it prevails in
the  suburbs of a city, in the neighbourhood of
ponds of stagnant water, or adjacent to piles
of filth, in which vegetable and animal matter
is putrifying, there can be no difficulty in de-
termining  what has  produced  the  disease.
For one of the remedies in such  cases,  is a
removal to the healthy atmosphere of a coun-
try  situation ; and without a change of air it
is almost a physical impossibility  to restore
the  young patient.
  But as the children of poor people are the
proper  subjects  of Dispensaries  and other
charitable institutions,  I shall direct my  re-
marks to parents in higher life.   The children
of these may be  divided  into two  classes ;
first,  those who are nourished solely by the 
77
 mother;  secondly, those who are able to mas-
 ticate their food.
   First.  Of those children who are nourished
 solely by the mother.
   Where no local  circumstance  of an un-
 wholesome nature exists,  such as a foul sink,
 Stc. the  disease must  be attributed either to
 the  cutting of teeth, or  to the milk of the mo-
 ther ;  since it is well known, that this secre-
 tion is often contaminated with various sub-
 stances,  that have  been taken as articles  of
 food.   The mother may have eaten  unripe
 fruit, or some other article of an unwholesome
 quality, and thus  the disease of the child may
 have been produced. For it must be remem-
 bered, that there is a vast  difference  between
 the local  and general circumstances of the in-
 fantile and adult constitution.  So that, altho*
 the mother might not be injured by any arti-
 cle of her food, yet the secretion by which her
 infant is nourished, may contain noxious qua-
 lities, capable of exciting disease.   In such
 cases, a strict attention must  be paid to diet,
 and to every circumstance that can affect the
 healthy condition of the milky secretion. The
 diet, which will be  mentioned, as proper for
 patients labouring  under cholera, should be
 used by the mother; for it will ultimately pro-
 duce the desired effect on the child, who par-
 takes of it, through the medium of the milk.
 Even many of the medicines, which are pro-
per for patients in this disease, might be taken 
78
   by the mother;  for they often  produce the
   salutary effects  expected from them, in this
   way.
     When the cutting of teeth is painful, it often
   excites, by sympathy, a disease in the stomach
   and bowels, which is sometimes removed by
   cutting the  gum, and  thereby enabling the
   tooth to protrude.
     Secondly. Of children who are able to mas-
   ticate  their  food.
     These have ceased in some measure, to de-
   volve, exclusively, on maternal care.  They
   no longer require the breast, for nature has
   kindly furnished them  with  teeth, by  which
.   they are enabled to take the  nourishment that
   is requisite,  without much assistance.   It is,
   however, because parents resign their children
   so much to the hands of nature, at this period,
   that they are troubled with this distressing dis-
   ease.  They are suffered to appropriate their
   teeth to whatever use they please, without any
   kind of restraint, and consequently (for they
   are not capable of judging  for  themselves),
   "many  things are eaten, which are absolutely
   pernicious to health, and which  finally prove
   destructive to life.  If it  were 'possible, chil-
   dren should never be allowed the use of their
   teeth,  but at certain times,  which should be
   judiciously fixed upon.   If  they are ignorant
   of that which is best adapted to their own wel-
   fare, the chief means of injuring their happi-
   wess should not be left in their free possession. 
79
  These means are their teeth;  for all their
other sources of injury  combined,  cannot be
so extensively  hurtful,  as those instruments,
which were designed to be used, but not to
be misapplied.
  In children,  therefore, who  are  no  longer
suckled, the avenues of this disease, are the
teeth chiefly.   Its occurrence  in the Summer
season, naturally leads  to the  productions of
that season, as "its cause.  These are  unripe
vegetable matters of all  kinds, or an excessive
quantity of those, which are ripe.   The latter
circumstance   is not less  frequent than the
former; for it  is a lamentable  fact, that most
children are gluttons.
   Besides vegetable matters ;  there  is  no
doubt, that animal substances occasion the
disease. I believe that the constant use of fresh
meat in the summer season, is highly impro-
per, and that from this alone,  many  cases of
cholera are produced.   It seems to lessen the
vigorous tone of the stomach, in such a man-
ner, as to subject it to  disease from the most
trivial causes.   Copious draughts of very  cold
water are also very apt to disorder the stomachy
and  thus to induce the disease under consi-
deration.
   The remedies must  be adapted to the state
of the system.   Recollect, that  disease  con-
sists in low or high morbid action, and that the
one calls for stimulants, the other for sedatives.
 The system is  sometimes highly excited ia 
80
 this disease, and bleeding is strenuously de-
 manded.  It must be used cautiously, however,
 for no disease prostrates the  system more ra-
 pidly, than  this.
   Where the patient has been much reduced
 by vomiting and purging, and these discharges
 still continue to be profuse, it is often neces-
 sary to administer laudanum. This stimulates
 the  debilitated  stomach  first,  and  then the
 whole system.   If liquid laudanum will not
 remain on the stomach, resort to opium  pills.
   Where there is  neither much debility, nor
 increased action, and the discharges are slimy,
 it will be proper to administer some cathartic
 medicine, to correct the quality of the dis-
 charges, and to remove the offending matters
 from the stomach  and bowels ; of these, the
 Spiced Rhubarb is not the least important;  a
 tea-spoonful every half hour to a child  of  a
 year or a year and a half old, will be likely to
 produce  gentle  discharges and thus be  very
 serviceable.   Three or four grains of calomel
 and as much calcined magnesia, given  to a
 child of the same age, has  frequently been
 useful.
   An ounce or two of Castor oil rubbed well
 with  a little sugar and gum arabic, may be
 given in  doses of a tea-spoonful each, every
 half hour, until free,  natural discharges are
produced.
   The vomiting when violent is often easily
 checked by  means of  seltzer water, or by  a 
81
tea-spoonful of lime water, or by a few drops
of laudanum.  An infusion of Larkspur leaves
checks vomiting in most cases, very speedily.
The pains in the stomach and the  sickness
have been frequently relieved by the applica-
tion of a spice plaster over the stomach ;  this
plaster is made by rubbing powdered Cinna-
mon,  allspice, &c. with mutton suet, till the
whole is intimately combined.   Sometimes a
blister applied over the stomach is very useful,
and where the system is very low, sinapisms
of flour  and mustard equal parts, moistened
with  vinegar, may be placed on the ancles.
They stimulate  locally and draw excitement
from other parts.
  But, notwithstanding the utility of different
medicines  in this disease, there  is no  part of
the mode of cure, so important, as that which
relates to the diet of the patient.
  The stomach during hot weather requires
to be constantly stimulated, in a gentle man-
ner, at least.  In some of the warm countries
in Europe, the  inhabitants are compelled to
eat spices, in order to preserve the tone of
their stomachs.
   Salt in a separate state, salt  food  of every
description, spices of various kinds, are highly
important remedies in the treatment of Cholera.
If the patient be a sucking infant,  the mother
should  eat moderately of spiced food, and
she should never eat meat, unless it be salted.
Fresh meat is absolutely  injurious.  By thus 
82
attending to her own diet, she will be able to re-
gulate the state of the child's stomach.  In ad-
dition to this, as we  have already  observed,
sore gums should be relieved by cutting.
  But when the patient is further advanced in
life tne  opportunities of  giving proper  food
are more extensive.  Salt victuals only  should
be allowed.  In all cases,  the patient  should
be restrained  from the use  of cold water;
barley water, mint tea, or chicken water, well
spiced and salted, should be used as the com-
mon drink.  The latter,  where it can be ob-
tained, is the best. The cinnamon makes the
water pleasing to  the taste, and very grateful
to the stomach.
  There  is  often a  natural  propensity  in
children, labouring under this disease, to eat
salt food.   I have frequently  seen a child,
biting at a salt herring, and I have always en-
couraged this happy inclination ; for nothing
can be  better calculated  to  restore the lost
vigor of the stomach than such articles.  The
country  air should not be  neglected when it
can conveniently be obtained. Children should
be removed from the noxious atmosphere  of
the city, as soon as possible.   The air of the
most cleanly  part of a city is foul  compared
with the salubrious breezes of a rural situation.
The stomach very soon realises the advanta-
ges of such changes, and through the stomach
the whole  system is invigorated.
   The  prevalence and destructive effects of 
83
this  disease  among the poor of  our cities,
should lead the humane and charitable to some
means of obviating the evil.  If a hospital
could  be provided at a few miles distance
from the city, where good attendance could be
obtained, it would no doubt be the means of
saving many hundred children.   A house of
moderate size might be so managed as to be
able to hold fifty or a hundred sick children
at once.   They should be attended by a pro-
per number of faithful nurses, and every kind
of accommodation should be provided.   Thus
I am sure, that  more than half the mortality
of this disease  might be counteracted.  An
institution of this sort is much wanted, for it
is certain, that many children die in the sum-
mer season, from  a want of proper treatment.
   Although careful attention to the rising race
is of more absolute consequence to our coun-
try, than the strictest regard to the welfare of
the aged and infirm, yet, respect and the ten-
der sympathies of nature call upon us to exert
ourselves in mitigating the sufferings incident
to the last days of life.
   Old age is the natural inheritance of many
of the human family.   It reduces man to his
infant state, and renders him as unfit for self.
preservation,  as he was in the earliest period
of youth.

     " Oh what is life by golden love umblest ?
     13 o mine,  ere then, eternally to rest; 
84
    The furtive kiss (soft pledge) and genial tie
    Are flowers of youth that, passing, smile and die.
    Old age succeeds, and dulls each finer sense,
    When all we hope at most, is reverence.
    Age brings misfortune clearer to our view,
    And choaks the spring, whence all our joys we
      drew,                              .
    And scatters frowns and thins the silvery hair,
    Hateful to youth, unlovely to the fair.
    Ah me 1 alike o'er youth and age I sigh,
    Impending age and youth that hastens by.
    Swift as a  thought, the flying moments roll,
    Swift as a racer speeds to reach the goal;
    Damps chill my brow, my  pulses flattering beat.
    Whene'er the vigorous pride of youth 1 meet,
    Pleasant and lovely ;  hopeful to the  view,
    As golden visions and as transient too,
    But oh ! no terrors stop, nor tows assuage,
    The coming gloom of unrelenting age."


  The  various appearances of old age are fa-
miliar to all, and of course need no description.
They all indicate, that  the machine has been
worn out by long use, or that it has been ren-
dered unfit for service, by  the abuse of its
powers.
   The important point now to be attended to,
is the proper mode of rendering old age com-
fortable,  and of making its termination tolera-
ble.  This object can be attained, only, by a
strict attention to the laws of the animal econo-
my,  and to  the nature  of life.    We  know
that a  certain quantity or force of stimuli, is
at all times necessary to keep the body alive; 
85
consequently,: in old age, the stimuli must be
proportioned to the powers of the system.
  As soon as the teeth begin to fall from their
sockets, and the lower jaw to  indicate by its
great projection the termination of life, we are
taught that the same kind ofefood which ser-
ved the purpose of middle life, is now impro-
per.   Animal matter can no  longer be per-
fectly digested, for the teeth have ceased to
perform their masticating office.  The loss of
teeth, thus bringing us back  to the state of
infancy, reminds us of the nourishment suita-
ble for early life, and indicates the necessity
of returning to the use of it.   The whole sys-
tem  is debilitated, almost to the grade of in-
fantile weakness; of course, the drinks which
were taken in mature age, are unfit at this sea-
son.  Wine, and ardent  spirits are deemed
improper  for infants, except occasionally,  by
way of medicine;  and, why  should not  the
same principle be adhered to in old age, that
period when the system resumes its pristine
condition  ?
   Every  circumstance that can effect the sys-
tem, should be regulated, with a strict regard
to the constitutional powers.   If this be  not
attended to, it is impossible that health can be
enjoyed.                              .
   It has been supposed that old age and dis»
case are necessarily connected; but this is not
the case.   Many persons have livid happy,
and in the possession  of physical and mental
                             H 
86
sanity, during many of the closing years.of a'
long life.
  Exertion, where it is used at all, should be
moderate, and fatigue should always be care-
fully avoided.   For it is  very apt to induce
disease, and thus hasten the approach of death.
  The stomach of an old person should never
be too full; a  little food, taken very frequent-
ly in the Course of a day, is much better than
a large quantity  taken at the  usual times of
eating.
  The  powers of the body decay with the
same regularity,  with which they were,acquir-
ed in early life.    So also do the mental fa-
culties; these decline gradually, and in  a cer-
tain order.  The various senses lose their vi-
vacity, and memory,  that noble ornament of
the mind, hastens to destruction.
  The pains which render existence misera-
ble, at the close  of life, may often be mitiga-
ted*   It is the dignified province of medicine,
to soothe  the sorrows of old age, to soften the
pangs of disease, and to repress the groans-of
the dying sufferer.
   The sympathising  soul  of the  immortal
Rush, bent with tenderness over the agonies
of the hour of dissolution.  He knew well, that
he was fast verging to the  silent tomb ; and
knowing that he, too, might share in the pangs
of death,  that his last hour might need all the
comfort that medicine  could afford, he  felt for
Other's woes.   His generous heart throbbed 
87
with pity, when he beheld the pains which at-
tended the passage out of life ; and he studied
attentively to soothe those pains, to smooth
the k\v remaining steps of life's short course.
He laboured with success, and  millions yet
unborn shall bless him,  whose philanthropic
soul overlooked all ranks and distinctions of
men, in his general interest for the welfare of
mankind.
   He taught, that violent pain is often best
relieved by means of the lancet. A few ounces
of blood drawn from the arm, prevent lethar-
gy, and lessen sensibility.   This remedy and
many others, must be used, only those cases,
in which nature and "reason conspire to show
that life cannot be presented.  Blisters by ex-
citing pain  in parts,  not affected, relieve the
pain of vital parts that are diseased.   Small
doses  of opium,  and cordial  drinks  relieve
pain.—Let the appetite be indulged.  The
warm bath is also a  very useful article;  it^acts
like opium, by  equalising excitement.   The
application  of  sweet oil to different parts of
the body has frequently  relieved pain.
   Patients in their last hours should never be
left  alone;  they become sad,  when solitary.
Man is by nature a fearful creature, and com-
pany is necessary, especially in sickness, to
:iive him fortitude.
   I have already advocated the utility of pub-
lic asylums, for various purposes.   But I be-
lieve," that the liberality of the humane could not 
88
 be bestowed for  a more useful  and laudable
 end, than for the erection of an asylum, for
 the reception of the  aged poor.  The incli-
 nations and desires  common to this period of
 life, are so contrary to those of  earlier years,
 that an indiscriminate mixture of young and
 old could  not fail to render the  latter, less
 happy than if they were kept by themselves.
   We find among the aged poor, many who
 have been  once  ornaments of society, many,
 who have fought the  battles of their country,
 many who in the days of their affluence have
 been hospitable and humane. And shall these,
 who are now deserted by good  fortune, who
 are forsaken by  the  friends of their  better
 days, be neglected  in their last  moments by
fellow men, destined perhaps, to the same un-
happy condition ? Surely not; the spirit% of be-
nevolence still retains its accustomed vigor,
 and the flame of sympathy still  glows  in the
bosoms of the charitable.
   The money that is  expended  for the erec-
tion  of charitable institutions is never  spent
in vain. The celebrated Dean Swift, who was
so instrumental in the  establishment of an asy-
lum for the insane,  terminated his existence
in that very asylum.  Little did he imagine,
that the liberality which he was extending to
others,  would ever  be experienced  bv him-
self.   But, alas, he too realised the overthrow
of his rational powers, and his  own asylum
was destined  to  the care and preservation of 
89
its humane founder.  And who is there among
the charitable that shall one day or other honor
our  country  with  such establishments,  as  I
have proposed, that may not be reduced to
the necessity of participating  in the bounties
of those institutions, either by their children,
or in their own persons ? We know not  what
may  be, for the affairs of human life are un-
certain. The glories of to-day  nipt by the frost
of adversity,  may be  converted into sadness
by to-morrow.   Our own welfare,  and the
happiness of others, urge us, to do unto others
as we would have them to do unto us.
             CONCLUSION.

   In the conclusion of this Treatise, I shall
make a few more remarks on the subject of the
alms-house.
   This topic has been more closely investiga-
ted of late, than in years past; and it is to be
hoped that the investigation will be of eminent
service.  The  accounts that have been  pub-
lished of the comparative  expenses and re-
ceipts of the Philadelphia and Lancaster alms-
houses,  plainly  discover a great want of pru-
dence in the management of the former.  The
average number of patients in the Philadelphia
alms-house is said to have been about 760, thr,t
of the Lancaster alms-house about 140.  TRe
•                          v. 2 
90
  receipts of money, arising from the labour of
  the paupers in  the latter institution, nearly
  equal those in the Philadelphia  alms-house ;
  while its  expenditures exceed tfrase of  the
  Lancaster, by about twelve thousand dollar;,
  This would scarcely be credited by a person,
  unacquainted with the facts; because it might
  be supposed, that a given number of paupers
* could be maintained in one place,  at as low
  a rate, as  in the other, the price of different
  articles being very  nearly the same in both
  j-aces.
    The truth of the  matter is,  that the Phila-
  delphia alms-Louse is managed about as badlv
  as it can be ;  and the onlyconsolation that re-
  mains is, that if a change  should occur, it can-
  not be for the worse.   I  know very little of
  the minute concerns of the Lancaster alms-
  house, but this much, I do know,  that from
  the very  nature of their annual accounts, a
  greater degree of pi e.dence and judgment mm-t
  exist in  the management of that institution,
  than in ours.   If this were not the case, there
  could not possibly be such a disproportion  be-
  UW'.-n the  products of the two Institutions.
  [f the labour of the paupers in the Lancaster
  alms-house be capable of yielding 2307  dol-
  lies, the labor of 760 paupers in the Philadel-
  phia alms-house should yield at least 12000
  dollars; instead of this sum, however, we find
  til-  products amounting to no more than 2800
  dollars. 
91
  I am very sure, that there are hundreds in
the Philadelphia alms-house who do little or
nothing, who might, by some kind of labour,
earn something.  Even the ideots in that in-
stitution, by careful superintendence, might be
employed  to some profit.  But besides these,
there are  many, strolling about  the yard,  in
idleness, whole labour would be some source
of emolument.
  If the business were conducted as it should
be, there would not be one idle person  in the
whole establishment, excepting such as might
be indisposed by sickness, &c.
  The  manufactures  in  the  Philadelphia
alms-house, if judiciously managed, would  go
very far to defray ail the expenses of the  in--
stitution.  If these were made more extensive,
there would  then be  sufficient room for the
employment of all the paupers in the house.
  An important source of the difference in the
expenditures between the Lancaster and Phila-
delphia alms-houses, is the maniacal depart-
ment of the latter institution.  Owing to want
of accommodations  in our aims-house,  many
of the insane paupers have been sent  to the
Pennsylvania  Hospital.   The  managers  of
this institution, instead of receiving these pau-
pers free of expense, have  exacted payment,
and the sum received by the  hospital on this
account, is about 6000 dollars.
  If I were to give  my opinion relative  to this
expense, in as few words as possible, I  would 
92
say, that  it was 6000 dollars wasted, or if
smoother  language would be more agreeable,
I might say with much propriety, that  the
money  thus spent,  was  most injudiciously
misapplied.   How then is  this evil to be  re-
medied ?  1 answer, by having within the walls
oi the alms-house, the necessary accommoda-
tions for the insane.   A building  should be
erected on the  south side of the  alms-house
square, sufficiently large to contain all the in-
sane paupers.   The very nature of  insanity
requires that an asylum for patients labouring
Under this disease, should be remote from the
other buildings.  Such an  edifice  could be
built for  about three thousand dollars; and
thus besides the advantageof having the insane
separate from the other paupers, it would be
no  longer necessary to incur an  expense of
several  thousand dollars, on account  of pau-
pers sent to the hospital.  The mad-house
thus established  and well  managed,  would
soon become an excellent school for the study
©f maniacal diseases; and this, together with
the medical and surgical wards, and other ad-
vantages to be suggested hereafter, would con-
stitute  the  best school of medicine in  the
United States of America.
   A house was lately built within the  walls of
the alms-house, for the purpose of having a
Library room,  apartments for the  accommo-
dation  of paupers with diseases of the  eye,
and an amphitheatre for the performance ea 
93
surgical operations.   But a part of the design
of this establishment  has been frustrated bv
the  agency  of the managers of the  Penn-
sylvania hospital.   By this means, surgical
cases have been  kept from the notice of the
alms-house physicians,  and the hospital has
reaped the advantages.
  To  convert  the alms-house into  an  useful
and profitable institution, it would be well to
establish a regular order of Professorships on
the  different  branches  of  medicine.   Men
qualified for the task, could be procured with-
out difficulty;  ancLas the amphitheatre already
mentioned, is  sufficiently capacious to hold
two  hundred students, there would be no ne-
cessity for a new building.   If the Professors,
were empowered to confer degrees,  there is
no  doubt, that a respectable  class  could  be
proem\ d. The professors should be appointed
by the corporation of the city and liberties, to
hoh! their station during good behaviour ; and
they should receive the fees  for tickets of at-
tendance on the lectures, as their compensa-
tion.
  The students of the University of Pennsyl-
vania are obliged to attend the  practice  of the
hospital;  and to pay  for that attendance, ten
dollars a year.   If eight dollars were exacted
from the students attending the  alms-house,
under  the contemplated plan, a considerable
emolument would arise from this source.  It
would be  the  interest of the  Professors  to 
94
make the instruction as extensive as possible ;
and with a little care, this might be made much
more useful than that of any other institution.
  The  alms-house, thus  constituted, would
present an important  theatre for the study of
medicine.  The  Lying-in department of  the
alms-house is  much better calculated for  the
instruction of students, than any similar institu-
tion in this country.  The variety of surgical
and medical cases is greater, by far, than that
in the  hospital, and with a little  more care in
the accommodation of patients, the alms-house
would   be, perhaps, the  best  school  for  the
study of disease, in the worid.   In its present
imperfect state, it is highly prized, by  those
who know its importance for the fund of in-
struction which  it contains.
  But if it should not be deemed prudent to
establish Professorships, it is very important,
at all events, to pay more attention to the  mani-
acal department of the alms-house.  A build-
ing, such  as  I  have suggested, should  be
erected for the accommodation of insane pau-
pers ; this should be attended to on the prin-
ciple of  economy.  A  house  of this sort,
would  be the means of saving  several thou-
sand dollars annually, and it would remove
the dependence  on the hospital, which has
subsisted for so long a time.  In fact, the two
institutions should be entirely distinct, each
resting on its own proper basis.
   Error has prevailed long enough, and it is 
9.5
high time that the management of the alms
house  were corrected.   Let  a change take
place in the general regulations, let the manu-
facturing department be conducted with pro-
priety, and place the  medical  department on
a rational  basis.  Thus improved, our alms-
house  would no longer lose  by comparison
with other institutions of a similar nature.   It
would  then exhibit a well ordered system; a
system of extensive, and genuine benevolence.
A few remarks  on  the  various,  domestic
sources of disease, shall close this treatise.
  He,  who contributes to the health of his
fellow  men, renders them an essential service;
and is, thus far entitled to the appellation of a
benevolent man.
  The business of a physician does not con-
sist simply in restoring health ; his more im-
portant destiny is to obstruct  the avenues  of
disease, and thereby preserve the sanity of the
human body.   In a large city  like Philadel-
phia, this branch of the duties  of a Physician,
is rendered highly  important.   The varied
modes of life, necessarily arising out of the
immense variety of characters and dispositions,
present a scene so heterogeneous in its nature,
that to suppose a general prevalence of the
same bodily  condition,  would be a substitu-
tion of conjecture in the room of fact.
  The particular construction  of a city, is a
circumstance intimately connected with the
health of its inhabitants.  Narrow lanes ?nd 
96
 confined alleys are,  under certain conditions,
 the best nurseries of disease.  The state of
 these, however, depends very much on the af-
 fluence or indigence of the people in their vi-
 cinity.  Thus we find, let the cause be what it
 may, that alleys in the center of our city are
 always much cleaner than those in the su-
 burbs.   Perhaps this  may be influenced  by
 the better plan of government in the city cor-
 poration.  Be this as it may ; the most thickly-
 settled parts of Philadelphia labour under dif-
 ficulties even worse than those which annoy
 the health of the citizens of the suburbs.  In
 many parts, the  erection'of dwelling houses
 has precluded the possibility of having one of
 the conveniencies of life  separated from the
 dwelling.  Hence we find the inhabitants in
 many parts,  infested continually with the un-
 wholesome  effluvia of their privies.   Would
 it not have been  sound policy in  the gover-
 nment to have arrested the inordinate  desire of
 wealth, and thus guard against the evils adver-
 ted to, by  preventing the  owners of ground
 from making those  inroads on  the  health of
 our citizens, which the total  occupancy  oi
 ground by houses is calculated to produce ?
 The attention of our Legislature to this  sub-
ject is imperiously demanded by the welfare
 of the next generation.
  We fear not for the health of our city,  pro-
 vided a strict attention be  paid to the remo-
val of filth.   Let  cleanliness in the streets, be 
97
but the motto of the health law, and we may
rest in peace, undismayed by the terrors of
that  pestilence,  which once stalked through
our city at noon day.
  But very different is the condition of the
 Southern part of Philadelphia, not as yet so
generally populated  as the city, it  offers a
much more fruitful source  of disease.  The
western  portion is the  residence, chiefly, of
the depraved and miserable.   Untutored and
savage in their dispositions,  they are unmind-
ful of the voice  of reason.  Constant intoxi-
cation, the too frequent partner of poverty, is
a fatal source of misery and death.  The very
habits of such people, are calculated tu blunt
the ardour of the physician, and too often ren-
ders  ineffectual  his most judicious practice.
 In short,  there is this difference  between the
 depraved poor and the  virtuous affluent in a
medical point of view ;  In one case  we have
to combat with  the disease only, in the other,
all the horrors of  mental  wretchedness stare
 us in  the face,  and  an uncommon share of
 firmness is often requisite to enable a young
practitioner to acquit himself with honor.
   But this is not all.   The numerous ponds
 of stagnant waters, into which are thrown dead
 animals, and other unwholesome matter, are
 sufficient to  produce almost general  disease.
 In the vicinity of such offending matters,  we
 often find, crammed into a small hut, si v, eight,
 nr  perhaps ten people :  filthy miserable and 
98
 sick.  What  if the  physician  is  invoked ?
 What if he administer medical aid till all the
 resources of his mind  are exhausted ?  He
 anticipates the result, and  if a distant ray of
 hope appear to  animate him, it is soon dissi-
 pated by the reflection that the circumstances
 in which his patients are placed must counter-
 act all his endeavours.  In such a vicinity, the
 infant race is soon blasted  by cholera.   And
 it is an established maxim, founded on expe-
 rience, that to effect a cure of this disease, un-
 der such circumstances is nearly impossible.
   What then is the remedy for an evil of such
 magnitude ?   The subject is of great import-
ance, and demands  much attention.
   The most essential part  of the remedy for
 the evil is the removal of  the many sources
 of putrid exhalations.   This may be easily ef-
 fected, by building  on such vacant lots, or by
 occupying the seat of the water, with earth ob-
 tained in digging cellars, which is more whole-
 some than street dirt.   The gutters should
 likewise be kept in a proper  state of cleanli-
 ness.  In short, we conceive, that justices of
 the peace, should be  empowered to controul
 acts of uncleanliness, as much as violations of
 the law.
   Another great source  of disease, however
 strange it may  sound, is the  public market.
 Evil. there exist, which ought  not to be to-
 lerated by the laws.  Unsound meat, unripe
 and of course unwholesome vegetable matters 
99
are productive of incalculable  distress.  The
first appearance of fruit in our markets is a sig-
nal for disease, and perhaps more than half of
the  children,  who die of the complaint, so
common to them in the Summer season, are
destroyed from this very cause.   Of the dif-
ficulty of preserving this part of our race from
the  ravages of cholera, we have already  spo-
ken.  We will offer a few more remarks on
this subject.
 Much of the public money has been expen-
ded on the erection of the City Hospital adja-
cent to Philadelphia.  Hitherto, it has been of
no real utility to the  public.   Now I  ask,
whether it would not be  an act of  humanity
(as it certainly would be a charitable one) to
appropriate that  Hospital  (or some  similar
building)  to the reception of poor children la-
bouring under the disease already mentioned ?
Its agreeable situation, the salubrity of the air,
and other  circumstances render it a fit place
for this purpose. And why should so large and
convenient a  building  remain  unoccupied,
when it might be the asylum of thousands,
and afford to many a happy retreat  from dis-
ease and death. A regard for the happiness and
comfort of the indigent, should  prompt the
proper officers to an attention to this subject.
THE END. 
V
<v 
 
ROO&S  RECENTLY PI;  VLlSilED


    By  ISAAC, PEIRCE,

No. '2, South Fourth Street, Philadelphia.
 M LETTERS On the Elementary Principles of Etiu-
 .Jp   ciition.  By Elizabeth  Hamilton.

 ^COTTAGERS OF GLEXL I RME.  A iMe.  1^ ff
 ifgj   tSKzah^th Hamilton.           •■   -

 -fliMEM* .38 OI* the OirubifU} CiiciiucaK^ecic^gf R

   m JESCBIPTION  oi'Lie RE PRE AT, a i" .wtitut..
 3:   near York, fov insane 1  ©rsuu?;  Xy Samuel TtykeJ
**B                              '       ■  •.  &»  ■'
 ^The Philosophy of Experimental Cheraistrt.'  P;
 .^?   Jam*..? Cutbush, Esq. 2Vofe.  Price., tw^dijfc* 5oij
 ■®fe           '              .            '."'.'"'
 *S   ***/rlvhi': excellent v-ovk, comprehends, not onlfc the
 jj£S subjects of Chemistry, as the inflammable gassesj'earfbi
 jgLrnetttfe. fee. wjlii ail  the iwdern discoveries ofthe science;
 ^wlbut comprises all the experiments, and the rationa|£ or
 -?3!theovy of e%ejh attached. It has been approved b/the Arst
 ^alchemists in this country,  as a work containing -more oiwt-
 ^^inicul facts, and less superfluous matter, in a small cona-
 ^eSpass, than any publication that has heretofore appeared,;
 4fjfc nd has been adopted in some ul the Colleges, p%a text-t:
 syStboDk for Student*.
   M                 L PEIRCE
   -^    h:»9 also von ;.m\: ont modeqa^jg 'j^r;-is,
   #AN EXCFLUENT a: iORTMENT QE T[U RHB'l
'■^|P  V-"-  mf,dk;4i woft^;/