PART II.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. I. establishments for the maintenance of deserted infants have long existed in Europe. The Foundling Hospital of Paris, instituted by the celebrated Vincent de Paul, dates back to 1620; that of Dublin was founded early in the next century, and that of London was chartered in 1739, though not opened until 1740. These, and the more recently established ones in Russia, (at Moscow and St. Petersburgh,) are perhaps the best known in the world, but there are also many others in the various countries of Europe, and in the southern portions of America. But except in New York, none has ever been established in any part of the United States, although in several of our cities, some special provision has been made for the class of deserted infants. It is true that this class has always been small in the United States, as compared with its numbers in any part of Europe; but it is now increasing fast, and greatly needs a systematic effort for its relief, such as has long been made in Europe. The Foundling Hospital of London has an interesting history. Its founder was Captain Thomas Coram, an Englishman, who had spent a portion of his life in Massachusetts, and who has been immortalized by the pencil of Hogarth, as well as by his own benevolence. Captain Coram was fully engaged, during seventeen years, in the prosecution of his scheme for the erection of a Foundling Hospital, in which he succeeded at last. George II. granted him a charter in 1739, which recited that "Thomas Coram, in behalf of great numbers of helpless infants daily exposed to destruction, has by his petition, represented that many persons of quality and distinction, as well as others, of both sexes, being sensible of the frequent murders committed on poor, miserable infants by their parents, to hide their shame, or otherwise, and the inhuman custom of deserting new-born children to perish, or training them up in idleness, beggary, or theft, had by instruments in writing, declared his and their intention to contribute liberally towards the erecting of a hospital after the example of other Christian countries, and for supporting the same." The preliminary measures having been taken, on the 26th of October, 1740, there appeared on the door of a house in Hatton Garden, now a thickly-populated, central locality, the following THE LONDON FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. notice: "To-morrow at eight in the evening, this house will be opened for the reception of twenty children, under the following regulations, namely: No child exceeding the age of two months will be taken in, nor such as have the evil, leprosy, or contagious disease of the like nature, whereby the health of the other children may be endangered. The person who brings such child, is to come in at the outer door, and ring a bell at the inner door, and not to go away until the child is returned, or notice given of its reception. But no questions will be asked of any person who brings a child, nor shall any servant of the house presume to endeavor to discover who such person is, on pain of being discharged. And all persons who bring children, are requested to affix on each child some particular writing, or some distinguishing mark or token, so that the child may be known, if hereafter necessary." The children were taken in, and a notice was affixed over the door, "The house is full." There was subsequently much confusion from the contention and efforts of rival mothers, each eager for the admission of her child. These inconveniences were got rid of by an ingenious balloting process. All women who drew from a bag black balls, were dismissed; those who drew white, were entitled to admission for their children, (if otherwise eligible,) whilst those who drew red, might remain to draw once more amongst themselves, for any vacancies left open by the ineligibility of any of the former class. In 1745, the western wing of the present building was opened, and the temporary accommodations in Hatton Gardens were relinquished. The other two portions of the edifice soon followed. The Chapel was commenced in 1747, four years before the death of the founder. It seems that at the age of eighty-two, Captain Coram found himself destitute, and, when asked, was not ashamed to own his poverty. "I have not," said he, "wasted the little. wealth I formerly possessed, in self-indulgence or vain expenses, and I am not ashamed to confess that in my old age I am poor." An annuity was provided for him by his friends, which however he did not long enjoy. During the period from 1740 till about 1760, the applications for admission were so far beyond the number that the funds. PART II.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. I. would admit, that the Governors determined to petition Parliament for assistance. The hospital had grown popular, and the general wish (concurring with that of the Governors) was, that it should accommodate all the children offered. Parliament received the application of the Governors favorably, and in April, 1756, granted the sum of £10,000, on condition that all children under a certain age, (first two months, then six, and lastly, as at present, twelve,) should be received. The hospital was also empowered to organize provincial or branch establishments. This mistaken eagerness on the part of the Governors, to multiply the facilities for the reception of infants, led to serious abuses. It appears that on June 2d, 1756, 117 children were received, and during the year no fewer than 1,783 came in. In the next year, 3,727 children were received, and nearly 15,000 during the first twenty years. It was impossible, under such circumstances, to adopt the best means of preserving the health and lives of the children. There was an enormous mortality during the earlier years of this foundling establishment, as there had been in Paris and Dublin. There were causes at work, in each instance, arising out of the then imperfect knowledge of the laws of health, likely of themselves to produce this mortality, independent of the adoption of the hospital system. That this is true, is evident from the diminished percentage of deaths at these institutions during the last half century. It will be found that even in private life, the ratio of infantile disease and death is lower than formerly, when bad ventilation, with the absence of sewerage and of all the modern appliances of a higher civilization, gave free opportunity for all infantile epidemic diseases. Out of the 14,934 children received at the London Foundling Hospital during the first twenty years of its existence, only 4,400 lived to be apprenticed,-a mortality of more than 70 per cent. In 1760, a resolution was adopted in Parliament, declaring "that the indiscriminate admission of all children. under a certain age, into the hospital, had been attended with many evil consequences, and that it should be discontinued." At this period there were above 6,000 children under the care of the establishment, and Parliament was bound to continue CARE OF FOUNDLINGS AT PARIS. its grant for their support till nearly the whole of them were apprenticed. From 1756 to 1771, (the years of the Parliamentary connection,) the national fund contributed no less a sum than £549,796 16s., about $2,748,984, or nearly three millions of dollars, to this single charity. After this period the Governors sold their provincial establishment, to be devoted to other purposes; and from that time to the present their administration has grown more strict, without impairing the usefulness of the institution, which with all its defects has done a good work. I have been thus particular in this account of the London Foundling Hospital, because it is from the defects of that establishment that many arguments have been drawn against the whole practice of providing for deserted infants. In Paris there are two distinct modes of providing for deserted infants,-in the Foundling Hospital, and by means of nurses in the country, under the regulation of a Bureau, of which M. Husson is the head. The Foundling Hospital of Paris, already referred to as founded about 1620 by Vincent de Paul, has not escaped the severe mortality which seems inevitable in all large establishments of this sort, although of late years this mortality has been much reduced. In the twenty years ending in 1859, out of 48,525 infants admitted to the Paris Hospital, 27,119 died in their first year, or 56 out of every hundred. This is a large proportion of deaths, but less than two-thirds of what it formerly was in the Foundling Hospitals of Paris, London and Dublin, and in the Almshouses of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania in recent years. During the same twenty years, out of 24,169 infants placed out to nurse by Mr. Husson's Bureau in Paris, only 7,151 died in their first year, or less than 30 in every hundred. The average of these two rates of mortality, (which would apply to a total of 72,694 infants received below the age of ten days,) would be 47 in every hundred, or but little more than half as great as the rate among infants of this class in the ordinary State and city almshouses of the United States. By infants of this class, we mean, of course, motherless infants, for no such mortality has ever existed among infants with their mothers in any of our public establishments. PART II.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. I. The management of the Foundling Hospital of Paris is similar to that of such establishments elsewhere, but it is a favorable specimen of its class. The other system, (that of placing children out to board with nurses,) has been described at some length by our Chairman, Dr. Howe, in his published letters, and by an English lady, Miss Florence Hill, in a work lately published, called "The Children of the State."* Miss Hill says: "The plan of boarding out children has existed in France for several centuries, having had its origin in the practice of sending them out of Paris, and probably other large towns, immediately on their birth, to be nursed in the country. In 1769, however, a dearth of nurses had arisen, owing in part at least to the non-payment of their salaries; and to remedy the deficiency a government department was established, entitled, Le bureau gènèral des nourrices et des raccommanderesses.' Inspectors were appointed to visit the nurses, but they were not active in the discharge of their duties, nor were the local medical officers who succeeded them much better. At length, after the difficulties of the revolutionary period, during which the nurses were the objects of many legislative measures, the Bureau passed in the year IX. under the administration of the Consul gènèral des hospices,' and thus arose the department of 'Le service des enfants assistés,' which, after successive improvements, is now, under the able direction of Mr. Husson, popularly known in Paris as the Bureau Sainte Apolline.' To the office of providing nurses for the offspring, entitled enfants placés, of parents who pay for their services, is added the whole charge of the class corresponding to our juvenile paupers, called enfants assistés; for though there is no Poor Law in France, provision for the relief of the destitute is made, and all the children thus relieved in Paris are dealt with by the Bureau Ste. Apolline, whether their destitution arise from their being orphans, or from the poverty of their parents, or temporarily from the incapacitation of the parents to support them, through being either in hospital or in prison. In any of these cases the destitute child is taken to the Bureau, where he is immediately registered, and a parchment bearing his name and number, with the date, is attached to his arm. If his health demands medical care, he remains until cured at the Hospital of the institution. Other Published by Macmillan, London, 1868. |