CHARTER
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OF THE
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STATE  HOSPITAL,
IN THE
CITY  OF  NE W-YOR K,
OTHER DOCUMENTS,
SHOWING THE ORIGIN AND PRESENT STATE OF THE
               INSTITUTION.
                                 ._#-*- ■•■.-•*■.«-
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       NEW-YORK:

PRINTED BY H. LUDWIG,
      72 VE S EY-ST RE E T.
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I 
PREFATORY  REMARKS.
  The purpose of these papers is to exhibit to the public the
glaring necessity of another Hospital, on a very  liberal founda-
tion ;  and they are published in the confident hope that the hu-
mane and charitable will contribute to its accomplishment.  It
will  be seen that the State stands pledged  to give the sum of
$300,000,  in  annual  instalments of  $15,000; and that the
City of New-York has given a perpetual lease to this charity of
an entire square of building grounds !
  These munificent donations can only be realized by fulfilling
the conditions upon which they are based, to wit: the erection
of an edifice within two  years, at a cost of not less than  $50,-
000, free  and unincumbered, and  in  all respects ready for the
reception of patients.  It will be seen that  on like condition of
the  institution being  rendered  operative, the superb  scientific
library of the late Professor David Hosack, consisting of 3000
volumes, will become its  property.
   The ablest medical  and surgical talent of the city is always
in readiness to second  this  enterprise,  as has ever been the case
with the old City Hospital, wholly  free of cost to the Institution
or its  beneficiaries.  Nor is it to be doubted that the corporate
councils of this great  city, ever most mindful of the wants of
the indigent and the comforts of the sick, will refuse any neces-
sary further aid which this charity in full operation may require.
   At this juncture of  its affairs, the Governors of the New-York
 State  Hospital most earnestly solicit the favourable attention of
this community.  The citizens of New-York must render some
 assistance in the starting of our good enterprise, or it  must lose
 the countenance and support  of the  City and State Govern-
 ments, and fail entirely ; but the  Governors take  great pleasure
 in stating that they do  most confidently rely on the liberality of
 their fellow-citizens for the limited aid  requisite to this very be-
 nevolent and important end. 
4
                     PETITION.

To the Honourable  the Legislature of the  State of New-
         York, in Senate and Assembly convened:

  The memorial  of the undersigned, citizens of the  State  of
New-York, respectfully showeth:
  That the necessity of erecting another Hospital, for  the fur-
ther accommodation of the sick poor in the city of New-York is
greatly felt by the whole community.   The fast growing popu-
lation, and the limited number of charitable institutions in our
city for the reception of the poor in sickness, may be cited as the
principal inducement  actuating the  undersigned in petitioning
your honourable body.
  At present  the population of the  city of New-York is up-
wards of 300,000, and to meet the wants of the poorer classes,
the city is provided with but one Hospital, which was chartered
as early as the year 1771;  the population the same year did
not exceed 21,865 ; and whereas the population of our city has
more than doubled every twenty years, and no additional  insti-
tution of the kind has  been erected,  your memorialists respect-
fully solicit a charter from your honourable body, for a  Hospital
to be erected in the upper  part of the city, which hospital it is
intended shall, as far as their means will justify, receive patients,
citizens of this State, free of all charge.
  The  class of the community to be particularly benefited by
such an establishment is that composed of those who labour for
their  support,  and whose  industry does not more than yield a
sufficiency for the maintenance of their  families.
  An institution, having for its object the free admission of the
poor,  will be highly gratifying to the citizens generally.
  Towards the endowment of  this Hospital, it is hoped a fund
may be  raised by private  contribution, from  residents of the
City of New-York; and in order  more  successfully  to  carry
these intentions into  operation, your memorialists respectfully
request  that your honourable body will be pleased to co-operate 
5
with us, and grant a charter for
the said Hospital.
       David C. Colden,
       William B. Lawrence,
       Charles March,
       John Mason,
       Thomas W. Pearsall,
       Saul Alley,
       Mortimer Livingston,
       Robert Kelly,
       Rufus Prime,
       R. B. Minturn,
       Joseph Walker,
       F. B. Cutting,
       Dudley Selden,
       John McKeon,
the necessary organization of

 Joseph Delafield,
 M. E. Thompson,
 Henry Brevoort, jr.
 William Bard,
 Samuel B. Ruggles,
 Robert Ray,
 M. H Grinnell,
 Samuel C. Howland,
 N. P. Hosack,
 Richard K. Haight,
 Moses Allen,
 Thomas Addis Emmet,
 J. Hoyt.
                    CHARTER.
An Act to Incorporate  the State Hospital of the City of
          New-York.  Passed March 11, 1839.
  The People of the State of New-York, represented in Sen-
ate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
  §1.   William Bard, Charles March, Moses H. Grinnell, Ro-
bert B Minturn, Moses Allen, James Monroe, Jesse Hoyt, Tho-
mas  A. Emmet,  Henry Brevoort, Jr., Robert Ray, Mortimer
Livingston, David C. Colden, Saul Alley, Thomas W. Pearsall,
Joseph Walker, William B. Lawrence, Samuel B. Ruggles,
Dudley Selden, Richard K. Haight, Joseph Delafield, John Mc-
Keon, Samuel Howland, Martin  E. Thompson, Rufus Prime,
Francis B.  Cutting, Robert Kelley, N. P. Hosack, and such
other persons as now are and may from time to time become
members of the said Hospital, shall be a body corporate, by the
name of the " State Hospital of the City of New-York," to be
located in the City of New York.
   &2.  The said corporation shall be .capable in law of purcha- 
6
sing, taking, holding and enjoying, to them and their successors,
any real estate in fee simple or otherwise, and any goods, chat-
tels, and personal estates, provided that the annual  income of
such real and personal estates shall not exceed the sum of thirty
thousand dollars ; and that they and their successors shall have
full power to sell, to lease,  or otherwise dispose of the said real
and personal estates, or any part thereof, at their will and plea-
sure.
  §3.   Any person, upon  the payment of fifty dollars, may  be
chosen by the said Governors a member of the said corporation,
and shall be entitled to a vote at any election to be held  in vir-
tue of this act, or of the by-laws  hereinafter mentioned.
  §4.   The property and  concerns of the said corporation shall
be managed and conducted by a President, Vice President, and
twenty-eight Governors, who shall be annually chosen by and
from the members of the said corporation, in such manner, and
at such time and places as shall be directed by the by-laws of the
said corporation ; and the said President, Vice President, and
Governors, and their successors, shall have power to make such
by-laws for the management and direction of the concerns and
business of the said corporation as they shall  from time to time
think requisite, provided that the same be not repugnant to the
constitution and laws of this State.
  §5. The said William Bard,  Charles March, Moses H. Grin-
nell, Robert B.  Minturn,  Moses  Allen, James  Monroe, Jesse
Hoyt, Thomas A. Emmet, Henry Brevoort, jr., Mortimer Liv-
ingston, David C. Colden,  Robert Ray, Saul Alley, Thomas W.
Pearsall,  Joseph  Walker, William  B.  Lawrence, Samuel  B.
Ruggles,  Dudley Selden,  Richard K. Haight, Joseph Delafield,
John  McKeon, Robert Kelley, Rufus Prime, Francis B. Cutting,
S. S. Howland, Martin E.  Thompson, N. P. Hosack, be, and
are hereby appointed Governors of the said  corporation, who
shall hold their respective offices until the first Tuesday of June
in  the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and until
others shall be chosen in their places.   The said Governors shall
elect from their own numbers  a President, Vice President, and
such  other officers as shall be necessary, who shall  hold their
offices until the first Tuesday of June, as aforesaid. 
pages 7-8 missing 
 
9
                        REPORT
  Of the Finance Committee of the Board of Aldermen, on
    the petition of the Governors of the State Hospital, for a
    grant of Land.   Laid on the table, and petition and re-
    port ordered  to be printed.
    The Finance Committee, to whom was referred the annexed
  petition of the Governors of the State Hospital of the city of
  New-York,setting forth that they had obtained a charter from the
•  Legislature of this State,  and  praying for a grant from the Cor-
  poration  of ground  sufficient  for the establishment of a public
  Hospital, respectfully Report :—
    That the establishment of charitable institutions, such as is
  contemplated by the present application, is deemed by your Com-
  mittee to be worthy of  public  patronage, so far as  the wants of
  the community absolutely require.   They are not  only dictated
  by the obligations of duty, but by  the strictest principles of pub-
  lic  economy.
    If the wants of our sick poor are provided for, our alms-house
  will become relieved, and  there will be less  excuse, and less n e-
  cessity, for the multiplied appeals to the public  bounty, occa-
  sioned by the wants of distress of  the poor.
     The present object  is, to provide more immediately  for the
  healing of the sick  and industrious poor, whose feelings would
  justly  revolt at  becoming inmates of an alms-house.  The
  number  of such who form a worthy portion of our population is
  now very considerable.   The only hospital, at all calculated for
  their necessities,  which now exists in the city, is the New-York
  Hospital, which was chartered by  the British Government, in
  1771.   At that  time the population of the  city was only about
  22,000.  It has now grown to the enormous number of 300,000#
  Your Committee are convinced that the greatly increasing wants
  of the city will justify the Common Council in aiding in the en-
  dowment of another.   The State Hospital is under the govern-
  ment of  a number of respectable  and wealthy citizens.  They
  propose to raise the  sum of $50,000, by private munificence, for
  the erection of the buildings,  and ask from the Common Coun-
  cil a grant of a portion of the public lands in aid of their object
         2 
10
   Your Committee have weighed the  subject maturely, and
 have concluded to  recommend the adoption  of the following
 resolution:
   Resolved, That a lease be given to the Governors of  the
 State Hospital of the City of New-York, of the block of ground
 bounded by the Fifth and Sixth Avenues and  by Forty-second
and Forty-third Streets, at a nominal rent, and as long as  the
 same shall be used for a public hospital; subject to  a condition
 that provision be constantly made  by the  said  Governors, for
the care and maintenance of thirty patients, to be designated
by the Common Council or their agents ; and also, that the sum
of fifty thousand dollars be raised for the erection of the build-
ings,  and  that such buildings be erected and ready for occupa-
tion on or before the first day of JVEay,, 1J4&..- The  lease not to
be executed until the above  amount of  funds be raised  to  the
satisfaction of the finance committees of both Boards.
       All of which  is respectfully submitted.
                              Thomas  G.  Talmadge,
                              Egbert Benson,
                              Daniel  F. Tiemann.
                       GRANT

 Of the Hon.  the Corporation  of the  City  of New- York.

   Resolved, That  a lease be given to  the  Governors of the
State Hospital  of  the City of New-York of the block of ground
bounded by the Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and by Forty-second
and Forty-third Streets at a  nominal rent, and as lono-  as  the
same shall be used for a Public Hospital,  subject  to a condition
that provision be constantly made by the  said Governors for the
care and maintenance of thirty patients, to be designated  by the
Common Council  or their Agents, and also that the sum  of
$50,0;)0 be raised for the erection of the building, and that such
building be erected and ready for occupation on or before  the 
                            11
above amount of funds be raised to the satisfaction  of the Fi-
nance Committees of both Boards.
  Adopted by the Board  of Aldermen,  Dec. 30, 1839.
      "       "       "      Assistants,  Jan. 13, 1840.
  Approved by the Mayor, Jan. 22, 1840.
                          Samuel Willis, Clerk,  C. C.
   PETITION OF  THE  GOVERNORS  OF  THE
                  STATE  HOSPITAL,

 To the Hon. the Legislature  of the  State of New- York

   The undersigned, Governors  of the State Hospital  of the
 City of New-York,  respectfully  pray  for an appropriation  of
 public  moneys in aid of their charity,  the  same  to be applied
 after the  Corporators of the Institution shall  have erected a
 Hospital edifice at an expense of not less than 50,000 dollars.
   Your petitioners ask for the passage of the law, granting this
 conditional assistance,  in order that firm  assurance may  be
 given to the wealthy and charitable, who  are  willing to  con-
 struct a Hospital and prepare it for  the  reception of patients,
 that it  will, in this  manner,  become a permanent  and safe de-
 pository and administrator of their benevolent donations.
   Your petitioners are convinced  that they should have been at
 this time in process  of erecting  the Hospital hitherto contem-
 plated,  if any assurance could have been  given to the public
 that the State would, at some future  time, aid the efforts  of
 private munificence by  the grant of an  annuity.
   The commercial embarrassments of  the past year have  also
 impeded their enterprise to some extent.   The  city  of New-
 York has unquestionably too limited accommodations for the
relief of that large  class of the population  who  are unable  to
supply  themselves  with the  assistance and appliances of the
sick-chamber, and especially in surgical exigencies,  to employ
the requisite professional attendance. 
12
  London, with a population only five times greater than ours,
has twenty-two  Hospitals,  and about 8000 beds open  at  all
times for the reception of patients, wholly free of cost to the ap-
plicant.  Paris, with a population of little more than twice that
of New-York, has thirteen Hospitals, and nearly 6000 beds for
the gratuitous  reception of the sick.
  New-York has but one  Hospital, and this  accommodates
never  more  than one hundred patients free of charge at any
one time.
  New-York has, at all  times, hundreds of sick and wounded
within its limits,  who have to choose between the privations
and neglect,  the dangers and miseries of taverns  and boarding-
houses, and  the mortification of being conveyed to the County
Poor-House.
  There  are  great  numbers of industrious  and enterprising
young men in  this city, who, coming from other States, and the
interior counties of this State, are taken sick before they have been
here long enough to acquire the friends or  the credit necessary
absolutely for their sustenance and protection  till health  is  re-
stored.  These should have an asylum provided for them which
they can enter by right of law, not as pauper-guests, but as  the
rightful beneficiaries of the Government, of which they  are an
integral part.
  Your petitioners beg leave to suggest, that (in case the prayer
of this Memorial be granted) the sums appropriated shall be secure
to the benefit of citizens of the State who may apply  to the Hos-
pital for medical or  surgical relief,  and  that a certificate  of one
of the Governors, or a regular member of the medical society of
the county from  which the applicant shall come, shall  entitle
him to admission and to all the benefits  of the House.
  Your petitioners by no means contemplate the exclusion of
citizens of other States and foreign countries, but it is just and
reasonable that,  while  the Corporation  receives aid from  the
State Treasury,  it shall be under  an imperative obligation to
admit, without charge, citizens  of the State, at least  to  the
extent of absorbing the sums thus obtained.
  American Hospitals receive pay from all patients who  are 
13
able to pay anything, and, unless otherwise directed by law
will prefer the pay-patients to those in destitute circumstances.
The moral depression and consequent bodily  injury resulting
from a rejection from the  doors of a general Hospital, and the
melancholy alternative of  the County Poor-House might cer-
tainly be provided against more liberally than it has hitherto been.
   Your petitioners beg leave further to state that the Corpora-
tion of the city of New-York have made a donation to the State
Hospital of a plot of ground in an eligible part of the city, con-
sisting of eighty building lots, and in consideration of this very
liberal endowment, your  petitioners pray,  that  their Charter
may be so amended as to make the Mayor and President of the
Board of Aldermen of the city of  New-York, ex-ofJficio  Gover-
nors of the State Hospital.
   Your petitioners, with confidence in the ability of the State
to contribute, and  the disposition of those entrusted with the
Legislature of the Commonwealth,  to aid the  efforts of those
who have assumed the trouble  and expense  of  the establish-
ment of a Public Charity, appeal  to you for a  share  of that
generous support which has been extended to many Institutions.
   Your petitioners believe that any aid afforded to them  will be
the means of  raising another  monument to the wise and hu-
mane  policy of the State in assisting the efforts of individuals to
build up Asylums for the sick and the unfortunate.
       David C. Colden,         Joseph Delafield,
       W. B. Lawrence,         M. E.  Thompson,
       Charles March,           Henry Brevoort, jr.
       John Mason,             William Bard,
       Thomas W. Pearsall,     Samuel B. Ruggles,
       Saul Alley,              Robert Ray,
       Mortimer Livingston,      M. H. Grinnell,
       Robert Kelly,             Samuel C. Howland,
       Rufus Prime,             N. P. Hosack,
       R. B. Minturn,           Richard K. Haight,
       Joseph  Walker,          Moses Allen,
       F.  B. Cutting,            Thomas Addis Emmet,
       Dudley Selden,           J. Hoyt.
        John McKeon, 
14
                       STATE  OP NEW-YORK.

                    IN   ASSEMBLY,
                                             March 3,  1840.

                           REPORT

      Of the Committee on charitable and religious societies on
        the petition of the  Governors of the State Hospital of the
        City of New- York, for aid from the State.

     Mr. Morgan, from the committee  on  charitable and  religious
       societies, to which was referred the petition of the Governors
       of the State Hospital of the city of  New-York, praying for
       aid  from  the State;  and also  praying that  their  Charter
       may be so amended as  to make the Mayor and President of
       the  Board of Aldermen of the city of New-York, ex-officio
       Governors of the said Hospital,

    Reports :—

       That the State Hospital of the city of New-York was incor-
?/  porated  by an act passed the  11th  of March,  1839.  It  was
    founded by wealthy and benevolent men, for the express purpose
    of giving medical and surgical aid, not only  to indigent  inhabi-
    tants of the city of  New-York, but also of the State at  large;
    and such an  institution the  Committee consider worthy of the
    patronage of the State.
      New-York is already a great city, and such is  its situation in
    regard  to foreign commerce, and inland navigation, that  its
    prospect of increase of population and wealth is not equalled by
    any other seaport on the continent, and probably not surpassed
    by any in the world.
      The committee have  inquired into  the public accommodations
    for the sick and wounded in New-York, as compared  with  the
    large towns  of Europe.   In  London,  with a population  of
    1,500,000, there are hospital accommodations, entirely free  of 
15
charge to the patients,  for  between eight  and  nine thousand
persons at a time.   This statement does not include the large
Greenwich Retreat for disabled seamen,  nor any of  the exten-
sive alms-houses and  infirmaries  of the metropolis.   The en-
dowments of these  hospitals,  twenty-two in number, amount,
in  the aggregate, to  something  over 22,000,000  dollars per
annum.*
   New-York city,  with  300,000 inhabitants and a  large float-
ing population, consisting of seamen,  emigrants from foreign
countries, and travellers, has but one hospital,  and  at no time
more  than  one  hundred  beds  for  the  free reception  of the
sick.
   Paris has  thirteen hospitals  and  5,337 beds for the sick, free
of  all cost to them,  independent of several minor  charitable
institutions.   The income of the  Paris Hospitals  amounts to the
annual sum of 10,000,000 of francs, arising from legacies  and
Government appropriations.
   The population of Paris is only a very little more than twice

  * Many of these hospitals were erected by individual charity.   One of the
oldest in London is that of St. Thomas.   It was founded by Richard, Prior of
Bermondsey, as early as 1213, and continued increasing the number of its beds
in proportion to the legacies and contributions received.
  In 1834, the House  contained  eighteen  wards, and accommodated four
hundred and eighty-five  patients.   But, for rich  endowment, that at  Guy's
Hospital far surpasses any Institution of the kind in the world.   This Charity
is indebted for its origin to Mr. Guy, a wealthy  citizen and bookseller of Lon-
don, who, after having bestowed immense sums on St. Thomas', determined
to be the sole founder of another hospital.  In 1721, at the age of seventy-six,
he commenced the erection of the  present building, and lived to see it nearly
completed.  It cost him £18,793, in addition to which he  left,  to endow it,
the immense sum of £219,499.
  This hospital was established, originally,  for the reception of  four hundred
patients, but in consequence of the addition of £200,000, left to it by the Will
of Mr. Thomas Hunt, the hospital was extended, in number of beds, to be-
tween five and six hundred.  No fee or money is to be paid on admission of
patients.
  The  fame of Sir Astley Cooper is identified with this hospital.
  St. Bartholomew's is another instance of a wealthy charity. It was founded
by a person named Rahere, about 1102, and is supported by its estates,  which
amount to £30,C00 annually.  It has five hundred beds. 
16
that of. New-York, with very slight prospect of any considerable
increase.
  The old New-York Hospital was founded on a charter from
the crown of Great Britain, in 1771, when the population of the
city of New-York was only 22,000.  Comparing the means of
relief  which  that  hospital can  afford, with  those of  the nu-
merous establishments of the  same nature in London and Pans,
jt would appear that the old New-York Hospital cannot be more
than adequate to the wants of a population of 5;),000 persons,
which is less than one-sixth of the actual population of the city
of New-York.
  For the data and testimony in detail upon which your com-
mittee have  made up  these comparisons  and  conclusions,
reference is  made to the  accompanying letters and  statistics
placed in their hands by Dr. Hosack.* An argument in favour of
granting the petition is suggested by the petitioners, which your
Committee deem worthy of consideration ; it is, that if the State
grant an annuity on condition that the fund thus granted, shall
be expended annually for the benefit of a given number of citi-
zens of this State, very many persons,  especially industrious
young men from the country, who have  been only for a short
time residents in the city, and many  residents in the  different
counties of  the State,  would resort to  the State  Hospital for
surgical assistance, under the  impression that they are entitled to
admission, who at present are unwilling  to seek this assistance
as paupers,  with the risk, and even probability, of being denied
admission.
  There are at all times in New-York,  many thousands of
young men of good standing and acquirements, whose salaries
will eke out the year very well, unless sickness or serious bodily
accident, cut off this subsistence.   In  cases of such misfortunes,
which certainly are not unfrequent, this valuable class of  men
have to elect between the degrading alternative of the county poor-
house, and the neglects and miseries of the poorest taverns and
boarding-houses.
  The old New-York Hospital has but eighty, or,  at most, one
hundred beds, in both the medical and surgical departments, for
the gratuitous reception  of the sick;  and even these are not
         * Not being deemed of importance here, were omitted. 
17
owned by the State.   The poor sick, even of our own State}
must seek admission there,  not by right under the law, nor in
any  other way than by the terms of mendicancy, a circum-
stance which, from the testimony of city practitioners, your Com-
mittee believe, effectually deprives very many sufferers of the
comforts and skill essential to their recovery.
  The bare publication  of the fact,  that the State Hospital of
the city of New-York, is, in part, the property of the State, and
that any citizen can demand  admission  to its benefits, by virtue
of the law, and of the grant of moneys now sought for by the pe-
titioners, would tend to relieve many a young man, now residing
in the city, and having  come from other counties, and also his
distant relatives, from the gloomy associations now  unavoidably
connected with  the  quite possible event of sickness overtaking
him,  before  time had given him character, money, or friends.
   But there is still another class, who would be greatly benefited
by the endowment the  petitioners ask.   In  every county  and
town of the State, there occur, occasionally, maladies which re-
quire the aid of the most adroit and practiced surgeons;  and in
most instances of this kind, the patients are not,  by any means,
able to defray the expenses inevitably connected with resorting
to the city, several weeks residence there in hotels,  and the em-
ployment of eminent surgeons and competent attendants.
   Without,  by any means, wishing to disparage the surgeons
who occasionally perform the capital surgical  operations, in the
various large villages of the State, it may be fairly asserted, that
they cannot be as well qualified for the difficult, and  always
painful and dangerous emergencies, as those of  their profession
are who reside in large cities, where they may  at all  times com-
mand anatomical facilities,  and  where  the frequency of such
operations give very great extent and variety of experience.
   A consciousness of this fact,  leads great numbers  of country
surgical patients to resort to  the  large cities, to undergo opera-
 tions ;  and  if the hospital in  question should go  into effect, with
 the proposed allowance from the Stale, there can be no  doubt
 that a vast amount of surgical  assistance,  of the best possible
 character, would be annually afforded to  persons who would
readily bear the expenses of a journey to and from the city.
                 3 
18
   The people of the State would, by the provisions of the  pro-
 posed  act, feel an ownership in the institution, and its citizens
 would, in the event of surgical need, resort to it without hesita-
 tion or humiliation.
   The population of the State, out of the city, rapidly on the in-
 crease, is now not much less than 2,0:.0,0»'0, and, among ihis
 vast multitude,  there  are at  all times many hundreds,  who
 might  derive more or less direct benefit from an institution,  pro-
 vided in part by the State, for their benefit.
   The Common Council of the city of New-York have given
 an entire square of ground, consisting of eighty building lots, to
 the Corporation  of the State Hospital.   This  munificent dona-
 tion, valued at least, at $44,0.>0, expresses the opinion of the
 citizens in  favour of the undertaking, and also the esteem in
 which  its present enlightened Board of Governors is held.
   In addition to this contribution, your com mil tee have much
 pleasure in stating, that the large and very valuable medical and
 scientific library  of the late  Professor David Hosack, consist-
 ing of about 3,000 volumes, will be presented to the hospital as
 soon as the  proprietor, Dr. A. E. Hosack, son of the late Profes-
 sor,  shall feel assured that its permanency is established by the
 passage of the act your Committee propose.
   There is  but little doubt, also, that the granting of the aid
 sought for by  the Governors will open  the  way for important
 bequests and legacies, and further municipal contributions on the
 part of the  city of New-York.   An important object to be at-
 tained  by  the grant  is, the stability it will confer  upon the
 whole  establishment.
   The hospital  is to receive the  income of a  considerable  sum
 of money now invested in the Life and Trust Co. of New-York
 to be  devoted to the  relief and comfort, of lying-in  women.
 For this very important and  hitherto  much-neglected depart-
 ment of hospital alleviation,  it is, your Committee  are  most
 happy  to learn,  the  intention  of the  Governors of the State
 Hospital to make the most ample provision which their founda-
 tion and resources will permit.  The records of our city criminal
courts,  and sanitary police, amply demonstrate the necessity of
some farther provision to  prevent the alarming increase of in- 
19
 fanticide.  From the data laid before your Committee respecting
 lying-in establishments in Paris and Dublin, it  is quite evident
 that this desperate crime diminishes in the  ratio of the increase
 of these establishments.*
   The perpetration of infanticide proceeds, in a vast majority of
 cases, from the  conviction in the mind of the unhappy  mother
 that society will deny her shelter and solace in the dark hours
 of trial that hasten towards her, and the powerful maternal in-
 stinct to clothe, defend, and  cherish her helpless child, yields in
 the bosoms of these wretched females, who are more frequently
 betrayed and deserted than altogether abandoned and depraved,
 to this horrible conviction which drives them beyond the bounds
 of reason and of nature.
   But the important moral benefits to society, which flow from
 extending protection and kindness to this class of females,  very
 greatly commends the  subject to the attentive  consideration of
 the Legislature.   Farther, your Committee have to suggest that
 the founding of this hospital on the extensive and liberal  plan
 contemplated, will  constitute a new and very useful means of
 perfecting the medical  education of the various  students of our
 medical colleges throughout the State, and especially of those
 pupils of private practitioners, who can occasionally resort to the
 city, at slight  expense,  for the purpose.!
  * The admirable Institutions  in  Paris and Dublin, and those  of  other
 countries, devoted to the lying-in poor, were created with  as much regard to
 the prevention of this crime, as to the direct ind.vidual benefits they confer.
  t According to Highmore, in his work on the Public Charities of London,
 the  Lying-in.Hospital  at London,  (Bayswater,) was established in 1752;
 and from that period to 1810, upwards of 45,000 women have received its
 benefits.
  The city of London Lying-in  Hospital was founded in 1750, and in fifty.
 nine years had relieved 24,902 poor, married women, of whom 25,196 children
 have been born.
  There arc, at  least,  three more  Lying-in-Hospitals in the city of London.
  "The most prominent fact (says Dr. Bisset Hawkins, in his work on Medi.
cal Statistics) afforded by medical statistics, next to  the  diminished mortality
of i lfancy, is the peculiar change which has supervened within the last hun-
dred years in the fate of lying-in-women "  He then states, that in 1750., the
mortality was one in forty-two; while in the  ten  years between  1789 and
1798, only one caso was fatal in two hundred and ci jht/ eight.  The average 
20
  The petitioners ask the aid of the State, only on the condition
that they, the petitioners, shall  erect on  the lots presented to
them  by the Corporation of the  city of New-York, a  hospital
that shall have cost $50,000.
  After a full consideration of the statements and arguments
before-mentioned, the Committee have come to the conclusion to
report a bill granting to the State Hospital of the city of New-
York, the sum of $15,000, in quarterly payments, for the term
of twenty years, to be paid out of the fund annually collected in
the city of New-York,  from all passengers arriving in vessels
from a foreign port, and on board coasting vessels; and if that
fund shall be deficient,  the deficiency to be paid out of any sur-
plus  that may remain  in the hands of the Trustees of the  Sea-
men's  Fund and  Retreat, of  the  moneys received by them,
 under the Act entitled  " An Act to provide for sick and disabled
seamen," passed April 22, 1831, after deducting the necessary
 expenses of the said Retreat.   No payment to be made to the
 Governors of the  said hospital until  they shall have provided
 sufficient accommodations for at least fifty indigent patients from
 the  City or State,  to be received and maintained in the said hos-
 pital, free of expense;  and the said payments to cease altogether,
 unless the said Governors shall, within two years, erect a build-
 ing  for a  hospital of  the value of $50,000, exclusive of the
 ground on which the same may be erected.
    Your Committee, also, agreeably to the prayer of the petition-
 ers,  and for the better  inspection and management  of the affairs
  of the said hospital, offer to the House, a bill for making the
  Mayor of the city of New-York and the President  of the  Board
  of Aldermen of the said city for the time being, by virtue of their
  offices, Governors of the said Hospital.
  fate of pregnancy throughout the whole Kingdom of Prussia, in 1817, was,
  according to Government returns, one in one  hundred and twelve ; while, in
  the  Dublin Hospital,  in 1822, the deaths were in the proportion of one in  two
  hundred and twenty-three. In 1814, the mortality in the last was one in one hun-
  dred; and even this, Dr. Hawkins remarks, presents, in a strong light, the very
  low mortality among women, always poor, and often miserable.—T. R. Beck. 
21
TABLE
Showing the mortality of lying-in women in different countries, and
  at different  periods, from  the register  of the Dublin Lying-in
  Hospital.
1	Years.	Labors.	Deaths.	Years.	Labors.	Deaths.
	1757	55	1	1791	1602	25
	1758	454	8	1792	1631	10
	1759	4(6	5	1793	1747	19
	1760	554	4	1794	1543	20
	1761	521	9	1795	15 3	7
	1762	533	6	1796	1604	8
	1763	488	9	1797	1537	10
	1764	588	12	1798	1837	18
	1765	533	6	1799	1725	30
	1766	581	3	1800	1985	26
Public Lying-in	1767	664	11	1801	2028	44
Hospital,	1768	655	16	1812	1915	16
	1769	612	8	18G3	2220	12
	1770	970	8	1804	2406	23
	1771	695	5	18,5	2511	12
	1772	714	4	18C6	2665	13
	1773	694	13	1807	2889	21
	1774	681	21	1818	2854	27
	1775	728	5	1S09	2561	'24
	1776	8(2	7	1810	2676	43
	1777	835	7	1811	2484	62
	1778	927	10	1812	2518	25
	1779	101 i	8	1813	3075	17
	1780	910	5	1814	3314	18
	1781	1027	6	1815	3473	32
	1782	990	6	1816	3539	56
	1783	1167	15	1817	3197	54
	1784	1261	11	1818	2458	50
	1785	1292	8	1819	2849	22
MM. De Chateau-	1786	1351	8	1820	2621	20
neuf, Duges, etc.	1787	1347	10	1821	2712	13
	1788	1469	23	1822	2675	12
	1789	1435	25	1823	2584	59
	1790	1546	12			
 
22
	\ ears i	Labors.	Deaths.	Years.	Labors.	Deaths.
	1799	1364	1U-	18l9	1795	66
	i 1800	1156	120	1810	1814	71
	1SU1	12 9	25	1811	2395	I OS
M. Duges at the	1 1802	1496	13	1814	2384	!27
Maternite of Pa-	1 1803	1632	118	1815	2346	149
ris, * . ...	1804	1662	59	1816	2422	46
	18 5	1564	60	1817	280 J	63
	1806	1625	114	1818	2411	152
	I8t7	1691	72	1819	1528	187
	18*8	169.	57			
M. De Chateau-neuf, at Paris,	1816 1817 1818	9,683 10,528 11.662	81 90 167	1819 1820 1821	11,58. 11,634 11,431	100 228 223
Wassenda in Swe-						
den, . . . Berlin, British Hospital, Manchester, Hotel-Dieu, Paris.		62 10,(00 5 12S 15	1 109 1 1 1			
London, in 3u y'n Strasburgh, Petersburg,		100,(0 109 1,001	820 1 7			
  *43l beds in all, are provided at this hospital, of which about 150 are appro-
priated to women about to be confined ; 200 for those already confined, and 25
toi-children and nurses, 8 for nurses, besides 150 beds for students in midwifery.
  The Dublin Lying-in-Hospital affords about the same amount of beds. 
23
                       AN  ACT
To enable the. State Hospital in the City of New- York to
  extend  the  benefits of the Institution  to the  indigent.
  Passed April 25; 1840.
  The People of the State  of New-York, represented in Sen-
ate and  Assembly, do enact as follows :
  §1.  Out  of  the  moneys which shall  be  received into  the
treasury from the Commissioners of Health in the city of New-
York, on account of hospital  money collected  from  passengers
in vessels  from  a  foreign port, and on board  coasting vessels,
there shall be annually paid by  the Treasurer, on the warrant
of the Comptroller, to the Treasurer of the State Hospital of the
city of  New York,  for the term  of twenty years from  the  first
of January, eighteen hundred and forty-one, such sum, not ex-
ceeding fifteen  thousand dollars annually, as shall remain out
of the said passengers' hospital  money,  after paying  the expen-
ses and  salaries now by law payable out of that fund, or charge-
able upon it, including  the annuity of eight thousand dollars to
the Society for the  Reformation  of Juvenile Delinquents, in the
city of  New-York.   It shall  be the duty of the  Governors  of
the said Hospital, in consideration of  the  sums thus granted, to
promote and keep sufficient accommodation, support, and medi-
cal and other necessary attendance for at least seventy indigent
patients, from any  part of this State.  They shall also, within
two years, erect a building for their hospital, of the clear, unin-
cumbered value of fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of the ground
on  which  it may be built.  On  failure  of the said  conditions,
the payments from the passengers' fund shall be discontinued.
   §2.   It  shall  be  the duty  of  the Surrogate  of the  city  and
county of New-York to visit  and  inspect the  said State Hospi-
tal, and the accommodations for patients,  and to inquire into the
expenditure of the moneys paid out  of the treasury, and to re-
port thereon annually to the legislature ;  and if the  Governors
of the said hospital shall at any time refuse  to permit such ex-
amination and inspection, upon  proof thereof  to the  Comptroll-
er,  he shall thereafter withhold  his warrant for the payment of
the annuity hereby granted, or any part thereof. 
                           24

   §3.  The legislature may at any time alter or repeal this act.
   State  of  New-York,
      Secretary's Office.
                  I have compared the preceding with an ori-
ginal act of the legislature of this State, on file in this office,
and do certify that the same is a correct transcript thereof, and
of the whole of such original.
                            JOHN C. SPENCER,
                                    Secretary  of State.
  Albany, April 25, 1840.
                  STATE OF  NEW-YORK.

               IN   ASSEMBLY,
                                       March  3,  1840.
                      AN  ACT
 To amend the. act entitled " An act to incorporate the State
          Hospital of the City of New- York.'

   The People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate
and Assembly, do enact as follows :
   §1.  The Mayor of the city of New-York, and the President
of the Board of Aldermen of said city for the time being, shall,
by virtue of their offices respectively, and during their continu-
ance in the same, be governors of the corporation created by the
act entitled "An act to incorporate the State  Hospital of the
City of New-York," passed March 11,  1839. 

'L-r   •* 
TERMS  OF  SUBSCRIPTION.
   At  a meeting  of the Governors  of the State Hospital,  ori
the  1st day  of June, 184), it was
   Resolved,  That the  citizens of  New-York, be  fully  in-
formed  of the facts and prospects  of this Institution,  and that
subscriptions be received of the public,  for the erection of  a
building.
   In accordance therefore  with the  above, one of the gentle-
men named  in  the charter, will  wait  upon  you to receive
such  amount (for the object above  stated) as your  liberality
may  suggest.
   Subscribers to the amount of $1250 or upwards, shall have
the right of sending one patient.   The  number of such sub-
scribers to  be limited to twenty five.
   Subscribers, whether  Individuals or Charitable Institutions,
or Societies, to the amount of $2000 or  upwards, shall  have
the right  in  perpetuity,  of sending  one  patient:  the  right
to be transferable  and a certificate to be given.
   All patients to  be subject to  the by-laws of  the Institution.
Thirty  thousand dollars amount to be  subscribed  before the
subscriptions  are called  for. 
SUBSCRIPTION   LIST.
i
  Caution !—No person is authorized to receive subscriptions excepting such
as exhibit a certificate, signed by the President, or Vice President and Secre-
tary of the Board of Governors of the Slate Hospital, which in every case if
pasted on the first page of this book.
NAME.
RESIDENCE.

■<
}  y/^lty^^^1^ 
SUBSCRIPTION LIST.
NAME.
RESIDENCE.
AMOUNT.