The Infant Hospital is for the reception of children under the age of four years, for foundlings, for children whose parents are too poor to take care of them, and for the sick of the Nurseries proper. The children are divided into three classes: I. The “Wet nursed:” II. The “Bottle fed:” III. The “Walking Children.” They are retained here unless claimed by their parents until they attain the age of three or four years, when they are transferred to the Nurseries mentioned above. The Hospital is a large and handsome brick building, and will accommodate several hundred children and their nurses.
The Idiot Asylum is a large brick building, with accommodations for several hundred patients. It contains at present about 150 of these, whose ages vary from six to thirty years. They represent nearly all the different phases of idiocy, and are well cared for. Some of them have been greatly improved in mind by the treatment and discipline pursued.
LII. BENEVOLENT AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
It would be simply impossible to present within the limits of a single chapter, or indeed in half a dozen chapters of the size of this, a description of the Benevolent and Charitable Institutions of New York. We can do no more than glance at them. Besides the institutions already mentioned, there are twenty-one hospitals, twenty-three asylums, seventeen homes, five missions, industrial schools, and miscellaneous societies, making a total of sixty-six institutions, or with those already noticed, a total of nearly one hundred benevolent, charitable, penal, and reformatory institutions supported by the city and people of New York.
Among the hospitals the largest and oldest is the New York Hospital, formerly located on Broadway opposite Pearl street. The Hospital is in charge of the medical faculty of the University of New York. At present the operations of this institution are entirely suspended, and will not be resumed until the completion of new buildings, the old ones having been sold and pulled down.
The Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane, is a branch of the New York Hospital. It is situated on One-hundred-and-seventeenth street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues. It is one of the most complete establishments in the world, and is admirably conducted.
Bellevue Hospital, on the East River, at the foot of Twenty-sixth street, is one of the largest in the city. It will accommodate 1200 patients, and is conducted by the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections. There is no charge for treatment and attendance, everything being free. The hospital is in charge
of the most distinguished physicians of the city, and as a school of clinical instruction ranks among the first in the world. The course is open to the students of all the medical schools in the city.
St. Luke’s Hospital, on Fifty-fourth street and Fifth avenue, is a noble institution, and one of the prettiest places on the great thoroughfare of fashion. Its erection is due to the labors of the Rev. Dr. W. A. Muhlenberg. It is the property of the Episcopal Church, by which body it is conducted. The sick are nursed here by the “Sisters of the Holy Communion,” a voluntary association of unmarried Protestant ladies. The hospital has accommodations for over one hundred patients, and is said to be the best conducted of any denominational charity in the city. Patients who are able to pay are required to do so, but the poor are received without charge.