Cottage Hospitals.—These hospitals, established originally in 1859 by Mr Albert Napper at Cranleigh, Surrey, have fulfilled a most useful function. Many of them are very efficient both in regard to equipment and treatment. They have become essential to the well-being and adequate medical care of rural populations, as they attract to the country some of the best members of the profession, who are able, with the aid of the cottage hospital, to keep themselves efficient and up-to-date, so that all classes of the community are benefited in this way by this type of hospital.
Ear, Throat and Nose Hospitals.—The history of this type of hospital bears out in every particular the reason we have given above for the establishment of special hospitals in the first instance. There can be no doubt that the best conducted throat hospitals have been beneficial to the poorer inhabitants of great cities.
Fever Hospitals.—Incidentally we have dealt with these institutions, which are usually supported out of the rates and administered by the medical officers of health, who are paid by the county or municipal authorities.
Maternity and Lying-in Hospitals.—This is one of the oldest types of special hospitals, and has done a great deal of good in its time. Owing to modern methods of treatment and hygienic developments the maternity hospital never occupied a stronger position than it does to-day.
Mental Hospitals.—In Great Britain the insane are provided for in asylums (see [Insanity], ad fin.), though such establishments, if properly conducted, are essentially hospitals. Scientific and public opinion tend towards the establishment of mental hospitals to which all acute cases of mental disease should be first relegated for treatment and diagnosis before they are consigned to a permanent lunatic hospital. Too little attention on an organized plan has been given to the continuous study of mental disease in its clinical and pathological aspects. It is probable, therefore, that the advent of the mental hospital may lead to important developments in treatment in many ways.
Ophthalmic Hospitals.—Of all special hospitals this is one which would probably be the least necessary, providing general hospitals everywhere were properly equipped and organized. No special hospital has probably been so abused in the material sense by the free relief of patients who could well afford to pay for their treatment at the ophthalmic hospital. Several of the existing ophthalmic hospitals have entailed an enormous expenditure, and their modern equipment is wonderfully efficient.
Orthopaedic Hospitals.—It is very doubtful whether this type o£ hospital is really desirable or necessary. Its necessity may be advocated on the ground that orthopaedic cases may require prolonged treatment, and that the pressure upon the beds of general hospitals by acute cases is nowadays so great as to render the orthopaedic hospital more necessary than ever before.
Paralysis and Epileptic Hospitals.—Seeing that the percentage of those who are at present attacked by paralysis and nervous disease shows a continued tendency to increase under modern conditions of life in large cities, hospitals of this type are necessary, and London at any rate, like most foreign towns of importance, possesses, at present, far too little accommodation for this class of case.
Skin and Photo-Therapy.—Up to the end of the 19th century hospitals for diseases of the skin were a constant cause of scandal and criticism. The introduction of modern methods of treatment by light and electricity, including photo-therapy, has given an importance to this department and treatment which it did not previously possess. We are of opinion that, on the whole, it is better and more economical to treat these cases in properly equipped departments of general hospitals than in separate institutions.
Women’s Hospitals.—These hospitals are not absolutely necessary, but considering their popularity with the women themselves, and that several of them have done excellent work, remembering too that women constitute the majority of the population, there seems to be some reason for their continuance.