A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume II (of 2)

In the capitulary of Charlemagne we meet with all the loci venerabiles of the Justinian code: xenodochium, ptochotrophium, nosocomium, orphanotrophium¹⁰⁸², gerontocomium, and also brephotrophium¹⁰⁸³. But at that time, at least among the Franks, the foundlings belonged to those by whom they had been received and educated, unless they were demanded back by their parents or relations within ten days¹⁰⁸⁴. It is not improbable that the same practice prevailed at this time in other countries; and perhaps the founder of the foundling hospital at Milan, on this account, declared so expressly that the children, when they grew up, were to be discharged from the institution, as persons born free.

In the year 1168, St. Galdinus, cardinal and archbishop of Milan, exercised great severity against heretics; but took particular care of the poor, who believed what he taught; namely, that the hospital there considered itself obliged, not only to receive the sick, but also such children as might be exposed in the city, and to provide them with food and clothing¹⁰⁸⁵.

In 1070 Olivier de la Trau founded at Montpellier an order, the members of which called themselves hospitalarii, sive spiritus. They entered into an engagement to take care of the poor as soon as possible, and to provide for the maintenance and education of foundlings and orphans. In the course of a little time they spread themselves into different countries; and wherever they went, the effects of their benevolent vow are still to be found. Some say that the institution for foundlings, or the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, at Montpellier, was established in the year 1180. In 1201 they settled at Rome, and, according to the testimony of historians, formed there an establishment of the same kind, after they had been confirmed by Pope Innocent III., in the year 1198, and obtained for that purpose an elegant mansion, fitted up in the best manner. In the papal bulls mention is made of many convents founded by this order; and I am inclined to think that those who might take the trouble to examine thoroughly the confused history of these hospitallers, or of this order of the Holy Ghost, and of the still existing hospitals distinguished by that title, would find much information in regard to this subject. I call the history confused, because there have been many kinds of hospitallers and similar orders, and these have often been confounded with each other¹⁰⁸⁶.

Our neighbourhood had similar establishments at an early period. At any rate there was one of this kind at Einbeck, before the year 1274, that is to say, an hospital of the Holy Ghost. It began to be built by duke Albert, who brought Einbeck to the house of Brunswick, when it submitted to him in 1272, in order to get rid of the importunity of count von Dassel. Alms were collected for its establishment and maintenance; and to promote these, the council issued recommendations, or letters-patent, in which it was expressly stated, that not only the indigent, and among these foreigners, were received into their hospital, but also orphans and foundlings, who were maintained and educated till they grew up. Such recommendations were from time to time repeated, for one still exists of the year 1300, which is a literal transcript of that issued in 1274. I do not believe that the hospital at Einbeck was established by the order before-mentioned; at any rate, hospitals of the Holy Ghost occur chiefly in the twelfth and two following centuries; and were founded, not by hospitallers, but established perhaps upon their model.

In this manner a rich citizen of Nuremberg, Conrad Heinz, surnamed der Grosse, founded the hospital of the Holy Ghost, in 1331. It began to be built in 1333, and was completed in 1341. Neither in the letter of foundation, however, nor in the confirmation, are foundlings particularly named; but it may be readily seen that this institution received poor pregnant women, and educated the children which were either born in it or admitted into it. In the like manner pregnant females, both married and unmarried, and also foundlings, are received into the hospital of St. John, at Turin. The founder of the house at Nuremberg made it a rule, that the day of the birth or reception of each child should be written down, in order that the expense incurred by it might be known, in case it should ever be able and inclined to repay it¹⁰⁸⁷.

The magnificent foundling hospital at Florence, called at present Spedale degl’ Innocenti, was founded in 1316, by one Pollini. There can be little doubt that this is the same establishment for which the well-known Camaldule monk, Ambrosius, often mentioned under his family name Traversari, solicited support from the pope, in the beginning of the fifteenth century. He boasts that the foundlings received by this institution, which he calls brephotrophium, were first given to nurses to be suckled, and then admitted into the house and instructed. Girls fit for marriage were furnished with a portion. Citizens also were accustomed to send their children to be educated in the school of this hospital¹⁰⁸⁸.

L’Hopital du S. Esprit, at Paris, is said to have been founded in 1362, and various persons out of compassion for the exposed children contributed the money necessary to its support. A brotherhood, called la Confrairie du S. Esprit, established to conduct the affairs of the institution, was confirmed the same year by pope Urban V.

Paris, however, from time to time obtained more institutions of this kind. In the year 1638 a widow devoted her house to this purpose, and on that account it was called la Maison de la Couche, a name still given to the foundling hospital at the church of Notre Dame. But it was soon found necessary to abandon this well-meant institution, in consequence of the shameful abuses which had crept into it. The nurses often sold the children to beggars, who distorted or mutilated their limbs, in order that they might excite more compassion, and thereby obtain greater alms. Many were purchased also for magical purposes. The price for each was twenty sous.

St. Vincent de Paule, of the congregation St. Lazare, founded, in 1640, a new institution, which in 1670 was transferred to the street Notre Dame. It obtained new improvements by the chancellor Etienne d’Aligre and his lady Elizabeth Luillier. At present this house is known under the name l’Hopital des Enfans Trouvés, or de Notre Dame de la Misericorde.

That an institution for foundlings at Venice, named before the destruction of the republic Della Pietá, was established in 1380, by a Franciscan named Petruccio, I have somewhere read, but in what author I do not at present remember.

In England a proposal for a similar institution was made so early as 1687; but the present foundling hospital was not established till the year 1739¹⁰⁸⁹. I shall not however enlarge further on the modern institutions of this kind: my object was to show that they are by no means a new invention, and that they have been continued from the oldest periods to the present time through all ages, and even in those which we are accustomed to call barbarous.

In our times most of the foundling hospitals have been suffered to fall to decay; chiefly because, to answer the benevolent purpose for which they are intended, they would require to be on a larger scale and better supported than it is possible for them to be at present; also because they do not entirely prevent child-murder, as they are not capable of completely removing the causes of it. After the establishment of the foundling institution at Cassel, not a year passed without some children being found murdered, either in that place or its neighbourhood. To this may be added also, that it is impossible with the utmost exertion to provide sound nurses for the continually increasing number of children brought in, and to ensure to them sufficient attention.

From the year 1763 to the end of 1781 the number of children brought into the foundling hospital at Cassel amounted to 740, of whom no more than eighty-eight remained alive at the end of the latter year. More than one half of them died under the age of eight, and scarcely ten attained to their fourteenth year. In Paris, in the year 1790, more than 23,000, and in 1800 about 62,000 children were brought in¹⁰⁹⁰. In 1790, of the children which had been brought in between 1774 and that period, 15,000 only were alive; and it is estimated that 11/13 of all the children brought in perish annually through hunger or neglect. Of 100 foundlings in the foundling hospital at Vienna, 54½ died in the year 1789. In 1797, the nurses in the foundling hospital at Metz had for fourteen months received no wages, and calculation showed that 7/8ths of the whole children perished. In an institution of this kind, in a certain German principality, only one of the foundlings in twenty years attained to manhood, and yet the establishment had cost the country annually 20,000 dollars at least. The education of no German prince ever cost so much.

The case with foundling hospitals is the same as with the artificial breeding of fowls; it is easy to obtain chickens, but for want of maternal feeding and care it is almost impossible to rear them. Of what use then is it to collect chickens?

ORPHAN HOUSES

As so ancient proofs are found of public attention paid to foundlings, it may be readily supposed that in well-regulated states care was employed at an early period to provide also for the maintenance and education of orphans. There is reason to believe that this was the case at Thebes, which took under its protection the children of all poor parents. Solon made a law, that children whose fathers had fallen in the defence of their country should be educated at the expense and under the inspection of government¹⁰⁹¹. The same thing was customary among the Iasei, who inhabited an island on the western coast of Caria¹⁰⁹².

At Rome children maintained at the public expense were called pueri alimentarii, and puellæ alimentariæ¹⁰⁹³.

The emperor Trajan was the first who formed large establishments for this purpose; and the children maintained in them were called, from his family name, pueri Ulpiani. Pliny relates in his panegyric, that he had caused five thousand free-born children to be sought out and educated. It is more than probable that he suffered them to remain with their parents, and that those who were unable to educate them themselves, received a monthly or annual allowance in corn or money. Orphans perhaps were given out to board at a certain fixed sum. It deserves to be remarked, that the emperor in this manner might afford assistance, not only to such as were depressed by poverty, but also to persons of distinction who were not able, according as we say at present, to support their families in a manner suitable to their rank. To have an offspring therefore was not a misfortune, but rather a blessing. Children were begotten in order that the parents might take advantage of this beneficence, as some people build houses that they may obtain the offered premium; and the large capitals required were not taken from the public treasury, but from the emperor’s own privy purse. That these establishments might exist after his death, the money in different parts destined for their support was laid out on land, which produced a perpetual income. This is shown by a letter of foundation for the town of Veleia¹⁰⁹⁴, which is still extant.

In the year 1747, some peasants while ploughing in the neighbourhood of Placentia found, together with several other antiquities, a copper-plate five and a half feet in height and ten and a half in breadth, which weighed 600 pounds. They broke it in great haste, because they expected to find under it a treasure, and sold the pieces as old copper. One of these having fallen into the hands of the learned count Giovanni Roncovieri, he remarked that it contained a part of a public document belonging to the reign of Trajan. With much trouble and at considerable expense he at length collected all the pieces, the possessors of which, on account of the eagerness shown to obtain them, expected for them a high price, and thus was the means of saving one of the most beautiful monuments of antiquity, a complete document in regard to the imperial establishment for the community of Valeia¹⁰⁹⁵. The inscription forms six hundred and seventy lines, and is divided into seven columns, over which stands the following title: “Obligatio. praediorum. ob. H – S. deciens. quadraginta. quatuor. milia. vt. ex. indulgentia. optimi maximique. principis. imp. caes. Nervae. Trajani. Aug. Germanici. Dacici. pueri. puellaeque. alimenta. accipiant. legitimi. n. CCXLV. in. singulos H – S. XVI. n. f. H – S XLVII. XL n. legitimae. n. XXXIV. sing. H – S. XII. n. f. H – S. IV. DCCCXCVI. spurius I. H – S. CXLIV. spuria. I. H – S. CXX. summa. H – S. LIICC. quae. sit vsura 55 5 55 sortis. supra. scriptae.”

Trajan therefore laid out a capital of 1,044,000 sesterces at five per cent. interest on forty-six farms around Valeia, which town or community was destined for this establishment. These farms formed the mortgage, and on that account are particularly named, together with the sum for which they were security. The annual interest amounted to 52,200 sesterces. Of this sum 245 boys born in wedlock received monthly sixteen sesterces each, which in a year makes 47,040; and 34 girls of the same description twelve sesterces monthly, making in a year 4896 sesterces. Besides these, one illegitimate male child received yearly 144 sesterces, and one illegitimate female child 120 sesterces. These different sums amounted exactly to the interest of the capital laid out.

It is hardly worth while to reduce these sums to our present currency. For even if we should calculate how many pounds or shillings the silver contained in 1,044,000 sesterces would make, this result would not give us the real value, because we have no standard by which the relative value can be determined; that is to say, it is not known what proportion silver and copper bore in those periods to the prices of the necessaries of life. The price of grain proposed by Unger as a standard, can be employed only for later times, when corn began to be a more general article of trade.

However, Trajan’s capital, according to our money at present, makes about 54,375 dollars, and the sum of the interest 2718 dollars; consequently a legitimate male child obtained yearly ten dollars, and a legitimate female child between seven and eight dollars. Such is the calculation made from the principles laid down in Romé de l’Isle’s Metrology by Professor Hegewisch, who has endeavoured also to compare some pieces in the time of Trajan with those at present.

It appears, therefore, that among 300 children the emperor admitted only two illegitimate; and Professor Hegewisch is inclined to believe that this was the actual proportion at that time; which indeed would induce one to form a very favourable opinion of the state of public morals, under the reign of Trajan, in the district above named.

That it was then customary to pay interest, salaries, and pensions, not annually but monthly, is known from other sources of information. The case was the same in regard to the distribution of corn (frumentatio), as is proved by a passage in Dionysius of Halicarnassus¹⁰⁹⁶, and when money was bequeathed in perpetuity for benevolent purposes by any person’s will¹⁰⁹⁷.

Muratori is of opinion that these pensions were paid to boys till they arrived at the age of eighteen, and to girls till they attained to that of fourteen; and for a proof he refers to an order of Adrian, confirmed by the emperor Alexander Severus¹⁰⁹⁸. At the above age the males could become soldiers and gain their pay; and girls of fourteen were fit either to be given in marriage, or to be employed in such a way as to obtain a livelihood by their industry. That the emperor, in forming this establishment, had an eye to recruits for the army, appears probable from a passage in Pliny¹⁰⁹⁹; and the example of Trajan induced rich private individuals during his life-time, and afterwards many of his successors, to form similar establishments for the like purpose. The same plate was destined also to eternise the bequest of one Cornelius, according to which 3600 sesterces, or about 187 dollars, being the interest of 72,000 sesterces, or 3750 dollars, were to be employed in maintaining eighteen legitimate male children, and one legitimate female child, at the rate before-mentioned. Pliny even, the panegyrist of Trajan, founded from his own property pensions for the free-born children of poor parents; a circumstance which he does not forget to mention in his letters, and the same thing is confirmed by an inscription still extant¹¹⁰⁰. Antoninus Pius made a similar establishment for poor girls, which after his consort were called puellæ Faustinianæ¹¹⁰¹. The emperor Antoninus Philosophus did the same thing; and from the name of the empress the girls were called Faustinianæ, but by way of distinction novæ puellæ Faustinianæ¹¹⁰². Alexander Severus formed an institution for the education of boys and girls, whom he caused to be named from his mother mammæani and mammæanæ¹¹⁰³.

In regard to the manner in which these establishments were managed we are entirely ignorant. It is known only, that in each of the provinces into which Italy was divided, there was a public functionary of some rank, with the title procurator ad alimenta, to whom, in all probability, the inspection of them was entrusted. This is known to have been an honourable office. It was held by the emperor Pertinax when a young man, in the towns and villages on the Via Ancilia, and in his old age at Rome itself¹¹⁰⁴. It was held also by Didius Julianus before he became emperor, after he had been prætor and consul, that is, enjoyed the highest offices next to the imperial dignity, and after he had been governor of Germany¹¹⁰⁵. On ancient monuments erected to the memory of persons of distinction, by their children, relations or friends, it is mentioned, that, besides filling other places of honour, they had been procuratores ad alimenta in certain districts there named.

These are the oldest instances, with which I am at present acquainted, of institutions for the benefit of poor children and orphans. Orphan-houses, properly so called, in which the children were educated together, I find mentioned for the first time, under the name of orphanotrophium, in the laws of the emperor Justinian. At later periods they occur frequently in the decrees of the different councils, such as that of Chalcedon in the fifth century. At the court of Byzantium the office of inspector of orphans, orphanotrophi, was so honourable and important, that it was filled by a brother of the emperor Michael IV. (Paphlago), in the beginning of the eleventh century¹¹⁰⁶. But under the latter emperors this place was entirely suppressed.

At present, orphan-houses have been abolished, since it has been shown, by many years’ experience, that the children cannot be educated in them healthy and at a sufficiently cheap rate. The children are placed out to be boarded and educated by individuals, under the inspection of those who manage everything relating to the poor.

INFIRMARIES. HOSPITALS FOR INVALIDS.
FIELD LAZARETTOS

By the preceding article I am induced to give some information in regard to the history of infirmaries. To offer anything complete on this subject, it would be necessary to enter also into the history of inns established for the use of pilgrims and strangers, which in general were combined with them, and likewise into that of the different orders instituted for the like purpose, and of taverns which arose at a later period.

It is certain that ancient Rome, though a magnificent city, had no houses into which sick persons were admitted in order to be taken care of and cured. Diseased people, however, were carried to the temple of Æsculapius, but for a very different purpose. They waited there for a cure, as some Christian believers still do in churches which contain wonder-working images; but no preparations were made there for their accommodation. Those numerous benevolent institutions for the accommodation of travellers, the indigent, and the sick, which do so much honour to modern times, were first introduced by Christianity.

Bodin¹¹⁰⁷, who could not deny this service, endeavoured to lessen it, by asserting that, on the introduction of Christianity, freedom was given to many slaves, who possessed nothing else; and who, having learned no trade or handicraft by which they could gain a living, became so burdensome to the state, that the clergy were obliged to devise some means to remove them from the public view, and to provide with the necessary support these unfortunate beings, abandoned by all mankind, whose increasing number was asserted by unbelievers to be an effect of the Christian religion.

In this representation however there is some truth. It indeed cannot be denied that our religion, as it requires humanity and compassion, though the intolerance it occasions converts the severest cruelties into good works, procures to beggars more indulgence and respect than they in general deserve, and thereby causes a continual increase of their number. But it is to be observed that Bodin, notwithstanding his acuteness and great learning, often suffers himself to be led away by the effects of his innate Jewish hatred to the Christians; and he readily embraces every opportunity of exalting his paternal religion, the Jewish, and depreciating the Christian, by which he obtained riches and honour.

The enemies of Christianity, however, during the first years of our æra, could not but observe the numerous means for alleviating human misfortunes which were introduced by the new religion. It was galling to the emperor Julian to acknowledge this superiority; and in order to banish it, he caused his priests to provide for the poor, and to establish for them inns (Xenodochia), into which they could be received; and he assigned to them the funds necessary for that purpose. Into these were admitted not only persons of his own religion but of every other, in imitation of the Christians, who, besides supporting their own poor, maintained those of the pagans also. How much he interested himself to weaken this means, by which the impious Galilæans procured respect, love, and attachment, may be seen by an oration wherein he inculcated the Christian morality as his own¹¹⁰⁸. This imitation of the new religion, which contributed more perhaps to recommend it than to bring it into discredit, is ridiculed by Gregory Nazianzenus in his third oration.

The care of providing the necessary assistance to those sick persons who can expect no help and attention from individuals, belongs to the police; and because this forms a part of government, rulers and sovereigns ought at all times to have made the establishments requisite for that purpose. But in the oldest periods, as appears, they had too much to do in administering justice, and securing the state against hostile attacks, to be able to attend to the necessary police establishments.

On the other hand, the clergy, whose first duty was to maintain good order, discipline, and virtue, however much they might often in private offend against them themselves, endeavoured to supply this want; and, on that account, among the decrees of various councils, we find a great many regulations which have not yet been sufficiently employed to illustrate the history of police. The establishment of the first houses for the reception of the sick is among the services rendered by the clergy; and to mention all the places of this kind, either founded by them or at their instigation, would form a very long list. The first, or at least one of the first houses for the reception of indigent sick was that built at Rome by Fabiola, a Roman lady, the friend of St. Jerome, consequently in the fifth century¹¹⁰⁹.

When pilgrimages to holy places, as they were called, and often from very distant countries, came to be considered as a part of religion, the number of these houses was much increased. Taverns, in which pilgrims could procure proper care and attention for payment, were not then to be found; and most people travelled without money, in the full confidence of meeting with gratuitous assistance. When the clergy wished to maintain and increase the number of pilgrims, which their own advantage induced them to do, it was necessary that they should afford them every facility of travelling, and consequently provide for the wants of indigent pilgrims; and it was impossible that among these there should not be some sick, especially as the inconvenience, fatigue, and dangers of the journey were much increased by many things injurious to the health.

But as the principal and most dangerous pilgrimages were made to Palestine, which is situated beyond the boundaries of Europe, where no countrymen, and not even Christians, one of whose religious duties it is to be compassionate, could be expected, institutions for the reception of sound as well as of sick pilgrims were erected by the clergy at a very early period on the road thither, and also at the holy places. Thus Jerome built an hospital at Bethlem; and his friend Paula caused several to be erected on the road to that village, in order that the devout idlers, as she says, might fare better than the mother of God, who, on her necessary journey thither, could find no inn¹¹¹⁰. In the like manner, the Scots and Irish erected hospitals in France for the use of their countrymen, who, on their pilgrimage to Rome, might be desirous of passing through that kingdom¹¹¹¹.

But hospitals were most necessary in wild and desert parts, where human habitations were not to be expected; and particularly in woody mountainous districts, and on the banks of broad rivers, where travellers were stopped for the want of bridges, and collected together in great numbers. It is probable that many of these hospitals may have given rise to the villages which are still found in such situations.

Pope Adrian I. recommended to the notice of Charlemagne¹¹¹² the hospitals built in the Alps; and in the year 855, the emperor Louis II. caused those situated on mountains to be visited and repaired¹¹¹³. The ruins of many of these edifices still exist.

Towards the end of the eleventh century, brotherhoods, which undertook to provide for the wants of sick pilgrims, were formed in the Holy Land; and these became richer and more numerous as the crusades increased. It was not uncommon for opulent persons, when dying, to bequeathe their property to establishments in which they had found consolation and relief; and very often those who had experienced a cure gave their money and effects, or a considerable part of them, to some brotherhood, either in consequence of a vow, or in order to show their gratitude. On this account the hospitals in Palestine could be constructed on a larger scale, and provided with better accommodations, than any before seen in Europe. They were therefore considered as models; and princes and rich persons, on returning safe from their pilgrimages, caused similar ones to be established in their own countries. Many princes even brought with them to Europe members of these brotherhoods, which in the course of time were converted into orders of knighthood, that they might employ them in the erection of hospitals. Instances of this circumstance have been given by Möhsen, in his History of the Sciences in the Mark of Brandenburg, and these might be easily increased. In the same author may be seen an account of the establishment of houses for the reception of persons afflicted with cutaneous disorders, and of their conversion into pest-houses. I shall here only remark, that these inns and hospitals contributed, in no small degree, to facilitate the travelling of mercantile people, who in the infancy of trade, when the roads were insecure and no means of conveyance established, were obliged to accompany their merchandise themselves.

The assertion of Muratori, however, that the oldest hospitals were not properly established for sick travellers, but rather for the sound, is undoubtedly true; and it appears that hospitals, according to the meaning of the word at present, that is, such as were destined for the sick alone, were not introduced before the eleventh century. The above author quotes¹¹¹⁴ from the life of St. Lanfranc, who was archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1070, that he caused an hospital to be built there, and fitted up in such a manner, that one part of it was destined for sick men, and the other for sick women. It is probable, or rather almost certain, that this prelate formed the institution here mentioned after the model of those which he had seen in his native country, Italy. After this period similar establishments for the sick are mentioned in various other parts.

The first hospitals, at least in general, were built close to cathedrals or monasteries; and the bishops themselves had the inspection of them; but afterwards, either for the greater convenience or the want of leisure, when their occupations increased, they committed this charge to the deacons. In the course of time, when houses for the sick were erected by laymen, and entirely separate from monasteries, the bishops asserted their right, often confirmed to them by imperial as well as pontifical laws, of visiting these institutions. We find, however, that in later times they were deprived of this privilege by princes and sovereigns, either because they wished to omit no opportunity of lessening the power of the clergy, or because the latter had given reason to suspect that the incomes destined for the use of the hospitals were not always applied to the intended purpose. Instances are found also, where, by the letters of foundation, the whole management is consigned to the sovereign or the heirs of the founder. These institutions, however, have the appearance of ecclesiastical establishments, and still retain in many cases similar privileges. As such they are free from all taxes, are spared as much as possible in war, and enjoy the same rank as churches.