HOSPITALS.
HÔTEL-DIEU,
Rue de Lecat, at the extremity of the rue de Crosne.
The establishment of vast hospitals is very ancient in Rouen. The one of which I am speaking was formerly situated near the cathedral, between the Calende square and the rue de la Madeleine. The house which is opposite the southern porch of Notre-Dame, is a part of the remains of that hospital. In 1758, it was transferred to the new building, which had been erected in 1749, on the place called the Lieu-de-Santé, other buildings having been afterwards added.
The Hôtel-Dieu is exclusively reserved for the reception of the inhabitants of the town, excepting cases of urgency, which after having been treated during six months, are dismissed as incurable, and are admitted into the Hospice-Général, if they have dwelt during ten years in the town. More than four thousand persons are admitted into this hospital annually. About two thirds of the sick are under the care of the physicians, the remainder under that of the surgeons of the establishment. Different rooms are reserved for different maladies. One of these is alloted to soldiers; another, which is known under the name of Gésine, is reserved for lying in women. There is also a separate room for Children under five years of age, and several rooms for boarders.
There are in all fifteen rooms, containing together more than six hundred beds, the half of which are of iron.
The medical practice is divided into two distincts parts; that of physicians, that of surgeons. Their visits are made regularly twice in the day.
The Hotel-Dieu, is at the western extremity of the rue de Crosne-hors-Ville, which is planted with trees, and offers a fine avenue. The buildings which form the hospital (properly so called), are those which are situated opposite the entrance gate which gives admittance to the vast court of the hospital.