Note 22 — AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH-AMERICA; AND A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THEIR DISEASES AND REMEDIES WITH THOSE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. Read before the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, on the 4th of February, 1774.
Reading edition
“Aurengezebe, emperor of Persia, being asked, Why he did not build hospitals? said, I will make my empire so rich, that there shall be no need of hospitals. He ought to have said, I will begin by rendering my subjects rich, and then I will build hospitals.
“At Rome, the hospitals place every one at his ease, except those who labour, those who are industrious, those who have lands, and those who are engaged in trade.
“I have observed, that wealthy nations have need of hospitals, because fortune subjects them to a thousand accidents; but it is plain, that transient assistances are better than perpetual foundations. The evil is momentary; it is necessary, therefore, that the succour should be of the same nature, and that it be applied to particular accidents.” Spirit of Laws, b. xxiii. ch. 29.
It was reserved for the present generation to substitute in the room of public hospitals private DISPENSARIES for the relief of the sick. Philosophy and christianity alike concur in deriving praise and benefit from these excellent institutions. They exhibit something like an application of the mechanical powers to the purposes of benevolence; for in what other charitable institutions do we perceive so great a quantity of distress relieved by so small an expence?