PLEA FOR THE INDUSTRIOUS POOR AND STRANGERS, IN SICKNESS. 
 
 AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 THE OPENING OF AN EDIFICE 
 
 Erecteti hvt tlje ^vustccs 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW- YORK DISFENSAZIY ; 
 
 JANUARY 11, 1830. 
 
 EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTION, 
 ITS PLAN, RESOURCES, HISTORY AND PECULIAR CLAIMS TO 
 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS. 
 
 BY 'JOHN FREDERICK SCHROEDER, A.M. 
 
 AN ASSISTANT MINISTER OF TRINITY CHURCH, IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK ; 
 A LIFE MEMBER OF THE DISPENSARY. 
 
 God is the prolectoi' of strangers and suppliants. 
 
 Apollonii Argon, lib. iii. 1. 9S5 
 
 NEW- YORK: 
 PRINTED AT THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL PRESS, 
 No. 46 Lumber-Stretl, 
 
 1830. 
 
lEx ICtbrtfi 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 "l ' 'Fort nte4it/ ^ylm^erJa.m' oj^ Mtrnhatarus 
 
 When you leave, please leave this hook 
 
 Because it has heen said 
 "Ever thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned hook." 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
OFFICERS OF THE NEW-YORK DISPENSARY. 
 
 trustees. 
 
 JOHN WATTS, President. 
 LINDLEY MURRAY, Treasurer, 
 JAMES F. DE PEYSTER, Sccrctarij. 
 
 John Watts, Jun., M. D. 
 Edwakd W. Laight, 
 George T. Trimble, 
 Lewis Willcocks, 
 R. Graves, M. D. 
 
 H. G. Stevens, 
 Gilbert Smith, M. D. 
 W. Vi. Fox, 
 Moses Field, 
 M. Van Schaick. 
 
 ©onsultfnfl 3.3j)i)sfcians mts Surgeons. 
 
 John Watts Jun., M. D. 
 GUbert Smith, M. D. 
 Francis U. Johnson, M. D. 
 
 A. H. Stevens, M. D. 
 John C. Cheesman, M. D. 
 John A. Smith, M. D. 
 
 John James Graves, M. D. Benjamin B. Coit, M. D. 
 
 Clark Wright, M. D. A. Van Gelder, M. D. 
 
 D. L. M. Peixotto, M. D. George Griswold, M. D. 
 
 Joseph W. Duvall, M. D. Arthur Bronson, M. D. 
 
 J, D^ight Harris, M. D. James T. Cromwell. M, D. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes of an Extra Meeting of the "Trustees or the 
 New-York Dispensary," heid January llth, 1830. 
 
 Hesolr<:d^ That the thanks of the Trustees be presented to the Rev. Mr. 
 Schroeder, for his very appropriate and eloquent Address, delivered at the 
 Dispensary to-day ; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it for publica- 
 tion. 
 
 Resolved^ That in consideration of his eminent services in behalf of the New- 
 York Dispensary, on the occasion of the opening of the new edifice, he be, and 
 is hereby elected a Member for Life. 
 
 Bcsolvcd, That the Committee of Arrangements wait upon the Rev. Mr. 
 > Schroeder, and present to him a copy of these Resolutions, passed by tho 
 Trustees. 
 
 Br/ order of the Board, 
 
 James F. De Peyster, Secretary. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/pleaforindustrioOOschr 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 It has been fabled of the healing god, whose shrine was 
 once the glory of the Epidaurians, that his nativity was 
 hailed by an assembled concourse. And were the genius 
 of this Institution now discovered to our eyes ; were we in- 
 formed, by a divine oracle, of all that blessedness, which, 
 by its sanative virtues, shall be bestowed on myriads unborn : 
 there is not one of our number who would refuse a tribute 
 of respect, and at the same time a free-will offering. 
 
 The intelligence, the accomphshments, the learning, and 
 the wealth and piety assembled here, are harbingers of good 
 things to come. In the name of the Institution, which you 
 have thus distinguished, I would now bid you welcome. 
 The smiles of your approbation are, we trust, tlie morning 
 beams of a bright day. 
 
 Like the Athenians, who observed an annual festival in 
 honor of the healing arts, this day we celebrate our Epi- 
 dauria. 
 
 And as we now appear before you, we would exhibit to 
 your view — 
 
 First, the objects, which we particularly contemplate; 
 > and, 
 
 In the second place, the means, which we propose for 
 their attainment. 
 
[ 6 ] 
 
 I. Our sympathies are awakened by that part of our 
 great community, than which none could be selected more 
 deserving. 
 
 Ourpoor maybe regarded, as constituting three classes. 
 
 1. There are not a few, who are reduced to poverty by 
 vice, and above all by gross intemperance. The sad details 
 of an investigation, under the eye of our State Government, 
 represent the aggregate of these sad objects to be lamenta- 
 bly great. Of all the indigent, they have certainly the least 
 claim to our beneficence. But while they loiter through 
 our streets, with their feigned stories of distress, — by well 
 meant, but ill-judged charity, they are not unfrequently en- 
 couraged ; and presuming upon the kind feelings and gene- 
 rosity of the humane, they procure from them the very 
 means of gratifying their propensity. We would not become 
 the almoners of such. 
 
 2. There is a second class, who are reduced to suffering 
 by God's afflictive hand. They are aged, helpless and in- 
 firm. And being destitute of the ability, by which a liveli- 
 hood might he obtained, they have been literally thrown 
 upon the mercy of the public. For such, thanks to the 
 kind emotions which suggested it ! and thanks to our all- 
 gracious God, for that Christian charity, which first inspired 
 these emotions ! there is an adequate provision made, in our 
 Hospitals and Alms-house.* The Dispensary is ever wil- 
 ling to extend its aid to such as these ; but they are not to 
 be regarded as the objects of its chief solicitude. 
 
 3. Its particular attention is arrested by a third class, for 
 
 * The proscnt number of inmates in our City Hospital is 281. In the 
 Bellevue Hospital there arc 271. And there arc 1839 in our Alms-house. 
 Sec the last Annual Census of the Humane Institutions of the City of 
 New-York, by the attendint; Minister, John Stanford, D.D., Jan. 1, 1830. 
 
[ 7 ] 
 
 whom no suitable provision has been furnished. Yet they 
 are a worthy, and most interesting part of our population. 
 It is only under certain circumstances of distress, that they 
 require assistance. 
 
 They are engaged in the prosecution of some reputable 
 business ; and they thus obtain from the community rewards 
 of labor, by which they can procure the necessaries, if not 
 the comforts and conveniences of life. They are industri- 
 ous ; they are diligent ; they are successful. And while 
 their families are smiling in the glow of health, they envy 
 not the pampered sons of pride and luxury. To all the 
 laboring poor, in the expressive language of the son of Si- 
 RACH,* "There is no riches above a sound body;" and to 
 
 them, " Health" is " above all gold." It is their joy, 
 
 when, with a vigorous frame, they can " go forth unto their 
 work, and to their labor until the evening." 
 
 But when they are fevered by disease ; when their 
 usual daily earnings are no more supplied to them ; unless 
 prompt, suitable assistance be afforded, their accustomed 
 business is It a stand, the happy smiles of the domestic circle 
 are exchanged for tears, and the alluring scenery of social 
 happiness is covered with the deep shades of penury and 
 sorrow. Here is a husband and a father, on the bed of suf- 
 fering : and shall he yield to the suggestion, that the Hospi- 
 tal must be his home, and that his family must be abandon- 
 ed to a precarious subsistence? Here is a wife and mother: 
 and shall she be induced to leave the centre of her anxious 
 cares and dearest hopes ? There is a feeble infant : and 
 shall it be removed, in sickness, from its fond parents' ten- 
 der assiduities ? 
 
 Is there one of us, who could be reconciled to partings 
 
 * III tho book EccLEsiASTicus, Chap. xxx. r. lbs. 
 
[ 8 ] 
 
 such as these 1 There is in every heart a throb, that elo- 
 quently answers, No ! This husband and this father, and 
 this wife and mother, and this tender infant may be relieved, 
 at their respective habitations. 
 
 "And He, who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, 
 
 And decks the hly fair in flow'ry pride, 
 Does, in a way his wisdom sees the best, 
 
 For them and for their little ones provide." 
 
 There is one thought connected with our subject, that is 
 particularly deserving of attention. A great part of all, 
 who may be termed our laboring poor, are strangers; who 
 have come to us from foreign lands, to breathe our atmo- 
 sphere of liberty, and share with us the blessedness of our 
 admirable institutions. They have entered into fields of 
 honest industry ; they have begun to reap from them ap- 
 propriate rewards ; they are allured by gladdening antici- 
 pations of an abundant harvest. But in the midst of their 
 career, they are surprised by sickness. They are in a laixd 
 of strangers ; they are in utter helplessness ; they are re- 
 moved from friends. Their tale of wo is sent across the 
 mighty deep ; but long before the friendly tear at home can 
 be awakened by their narrative, their bodily and mental suf- 
 ferings demand our sympathy. 
 
 It is the language of a celebrated Heathen poet,* 
 
 " All the poor and all strangers arc from God." 
 
 And while our Holy Faith inculcates the same precept with 
 inspired sanctions, shall we behold that poor sick stranger in 
 his corporeal sufferings, and yet pass by ^^on the other side 
 
 * Homer uses the expression, in two passages of his Odyssey; sec Z'. 
 
 207., and H'. 57. npbs ydp Aibs elaiv anavTCS 
 
 HtTvoi r£, nro)xoi re. 
 
[ 9 ] 
 
 There is in every heart a prompt answer, No ! Let suitable 
 relief, with Christian kindness, be extended. 
 
 Both the stranger, and the industrious poor are certainly 
 appropriate objects of commiseration. It is for such, that 
 the Dispensary feels a deep and anxious soHcitude. 
 
 Pecuniary aid is ever liable to be abused. And did Ex- 
 perience unfold to us a single page of her sad records, we 
 should discover multitudes, who have been thus allured into 
 gross indolence and feigned distress. But the Dispensary 
 has no such offerings to exhibit. It has no pecuniary chari- 
 ties. Yet it goes forth, in the spirit and power of the Apos- 
 tle,* declaring, " Silver and gold have I none, but such as I 
 have give I thee." From house to house, it alleviates men's 
 bodily infirmities, and "giveth medicine to heal their sickness. 
 
 Animated by this spirit, it has long proceeded, with great 
 system and great ardor, in its benignant enterprise. It has 
 divided our whole metropolis into districts, and an attending 
 physician has been assigned to each. Consulting physicians 
 have been appointed. And a regular plan of visitation has 
 been established, by which the actual condition of the Dis- 
 pensary may be ascertained. In the performance of their 
 duties, the attending physicians have gone forth. They have 
 entered, with all diligence, their assigned spheres of action ; 
 and the reports, which they have made to the Trustees, de- 
 velope an attractive series of operations. 
 
 Not content with the relief, which it has extensively 
 afforded, the Dispensary desires, with a provident benefi- 
 cence, to anticipate disease. 
 
 * St, Petek, in the Acts of the Ai'Dstle^, Chap. iii. r. 6. 
 
 2 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 Among the various ills " that flesh is heir to," there 
 is one, that may be justly numbered with the greatest 
 enemies of our race. From the remotest period of the 
 world, it has tyrannically scourged the empires of the 
 Oriental continent ; and conveyed from China to Hindoo- 
 stan, and thence to the Arabian shores about the middle of 
 the sixth century, having previously traversed with its pol- 
 luting steps the north coast of Africa, it entered Europe 
 with the desolating armies of the Saracens : fit emblem of 
 its rapid, wide-spread, merciless career ! In times past, it 
 has caused the nations of the earth to mourn, over the un- 
 timely fate of a tenth* of all their departed. And un- 
 sated with its cruel carnage of unnumbered dead, it has de- 
 formed the living. Not unfrequently erasing those myste- 
 rious lineaments, by means of which the soul's most secret 
 workings are inscribed upon the countenance, it has set the 
 stamp of its implacable malignity, upon the very features of 
 the " face divine." 
 
 To arrest the progress of this Monster, — long, longf be- 
 fore his foul, Sirrocco breath had breathed on Europe, 
 small-pox inoculation is said to have been practised in one 
 region of the East. But by this art, the inhabitants of the 
 Celestial Empire only mitigated the sad influence of an 
 enem}^, whom even their great boasted wall could not shut 
 out. And in Europe, "it may be doubted," (I adopt the 
 words of a distinguished surgeon, "it may be doubted, 
 whether it has lessened the mortality of the disease ;" since 
 
 * See Sir Gilbert Blank's Tables, in the Eclectic Repertory, Vol. 
 X. pp. 299, and 311. Phila. 1820. 
 
 t The ffrcal antiquity of small-pox in China, and the early practice 
 of inoculation there, are stated on the authority of the Jesuits, in their 
 Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, quoted by Dr. Good, in his Study oj 
 Medicine, Vol. III. the chapter on Enipyesis Variola, p. 54, and p. 78. of 
 the edition ISew- York, 1827. 
 
 t Dr. James BRycE, in his Practical Observations on the Inoculation 
 of Cow-pox, Chap. II. Sect. I, p. 63. of the edit. Edinburgh, 1802. 
 
[ 11 ] 
 
 in its mildest form it spreads contagion, to all such as have 
 not, hy an effectual preventive, been secured from its ma- 
 lignant venom. When the last century had closed its cir- 
 cuit, the small-pox proved fatal, in the proportion* of one 
 person out of every seven born in Glasgow ; two out of 
 every thirteen born in London ; and in Liverpool, the dis- 
 couraging proportion was still greater. 
 
 Well might the human family direct, on every side, their 
 earnest looks, for some one to save them from their general 
 wretchedness. A deliverer arose. He took his censer; 
 he went forth; "he stood between the dead and the living; 
 and the plague was stayed." It was the privilege of Eng- 
 land to give birth to the illustrious man. 
 
 In the well known virus of vaccinia, he discovered a pre- 
 ventive, which is so harmless, as to be applied with safety to 
 the feeblest infant. Since the original publicationf of the 
 discovery in the year 1798, the welcome messenger of mer- 
 cy has gone forth. Within the Prussian States, where once, 
 year by year, no less than forty thousand of their population 
 were p.rosfrated by Variola, it has supplied "the garment of 
 praise for the spirit of heaviness," and its discovery is com- 
 memorated:}: by an annual festival. In Copenhagen, it has 
 reduced§ the ravages of the great enemy, from fifty-five 
 hundred victims during ticehe years, to one hundred and 
 fifty-eight during sixteen years. In Berlin, during the year 
 1819, its protection shielded all the population, except five- 
 
 * See Bkyce's Practical Ob.^crvaf ions just quoted, Chap.II. Sect. I. p. Gl. 
 t The memorable work of Dr. Jenker, announcing the discover^-, is 
 entitled, " Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolce Vaccina:/' 
 t On the 14th day of May, at Berlin. 
 
 § For the facts here stated, see Museum of For. Lit., Vol. X. p. 2<S4. 
 See also Dr. Jenner's Letter to W. Dillityn, Esq. ; and Sir G. Blank's 
 Statement, accompanying his Tables just quoted. 
 
[ 13 ] 
 
 and-ticenty. For eleven years, only five persons died of 
 small-pox in Bavaria; and the principality of Anspach, it is 
 saidj has rejoiced in its complete extermination. 
 
 Throughout the regions of the earth, with a rapidity, sur- 
 passing the afflictive march of the destroyer himself, Vac- 
 cination has been hailed with joy ; for if it cannot utterly 
 annihilate the venomous contagion, it can, in every region 
 of the earth, allay its virulence.* Not only Europe, but 
 the remotest sons of Asia, and the untutored children even 
 of South Africa, while they partake of the inestimable bene- 
 fits of his discovery, unite in their eulogium of that illustrious 
 benefactor of the human race, immortal Jenner. 
 
 In Great Britain, and our own Free States, where 
 LIBERTY tempts men, not only to reject all evidence, but do 
 as they please, we can find multitudes, who are the necessary 
 victims of their own rash presumption. In Denmark, it is 
 required by law, that no youth, until he has exhibited a tes^ 
 timonial of vaccination, may be admitted to a school or col- 
 lege, or apprenticed to a trade. But as our statutes do not 
 compel citizens, to be protected from a direful contagion, 
 that still spreads deformity and death among us, we would 
 freely offer the well-known preventive of its fatal influence, 
 to all, and move especially to strangers and the poor. 
 
 You have heard the objects of our Institution. And are 
 they not consecrated, by the tenderest relations of domestic 
 life, and approved by the best feelings of humanity? 
 
 II. To obtain a liberal encouragement for objects so 
 commendable, the Dispensary looked with confidence 
 around, upon the wealth of our great commercial mart. It 
 
 * See Dr. Craigie's Art. Vaccinafiov, in Suppl. to Encyc. Britan. p. 
 712 ; and Eclectic Rep., Vol. II. SOT.. V. 533. ix. 129. x. 297s.9. 
 
[ 13 ] 
 
 "saw the rich men casting their gifts into the" Lord's 
 "treasury." On every side, it saw an active, nohle emula- 
 tion, communicated even to the poor widow with her mites. 
 It rejoiced at this pervading influence of good will to man. 
 It came forward. And while it pointed, with a deep con- 
 cern, to the sick poor and strangers, who are the peculiar 
 objects of its care, it invited contributions ; and in return 
 for these it offered privileges, which, to the philanthropic, 
 it was hoped, would be alluring. But the public mind was 
 occupied with other charities ; the public feelings were 
 vibrating to other notes of wo ; and the public eye, ex- 
 ploring the gi eat field of missions, overlooked the simple, 
 unobtrusive efforts, by which thousands, tens of thousands 
 of our own suffering might be saved at home. 
 
 Far, far from us, the sacrilegious thought, of plucking 
 one leaf from the full chaplet, that is to crown the head of 
 him, who hath "the heathen for his inheritance." It is the 
 language of our lips, and the sincere dictate of our hearts, 
 "Ride on, thou Most Mighty, conquering and to conquer!" 
 But we have read also the declaration of an inspired servant* 
 of the LorA : " If any provide not for his own, and specially 
 for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is 
 worse than an infidel." And while our institution stands 
 before you, and directs your eye to this brieff catalogue of 
 life and annual subscribers; and to that Treasurer's-book, 
 exhibiting its account of no more than eight contributions 
 made in Churches, during the long lapse of forty years, we 
 must rejoice to think, that it has persevered, amid such pal- 
 sying discouragements. 
 
 There have been dark and melancholy hours, when the 
 
 * St Paul, in his first Epistle to Timothy, Chap. v. r. 8. 
 t Thp wholp number of Life Members and Annual Subscribers is a 
 hundred and thirty-tico. 
 
[ 14 ] 
 
 Trustees looked around in vain, for help in their extreme 
 necessity. But as they contemplated the cloud, that con- 
 cealed from them the light of heaven, they could behold, at 
 times, 
 
 "God's mercy, in the azure hue 
 
 Of sunny brightness bursting tlirough." 
 
 They were cheered by gladdening anticipations. And they 
 had their benefactors. Yes ! in their gloomiest hours, they 
 recognised with joy some of the pure lights that God has 
 formed, to shed their beams upon our world of wretchedness. 
 They persevered. 
 
 They could not think, that the domestic ties of tenderness 
 should be dissolved by sickness. With an indefatigable as- 
 siduity, they offered to the suffering poor and strangers medi- 
 cal attendance and advice. Where patients were unable 
 to apply for necessary aid, they were visited at their ow^ 
 residences, in every quarter of the city. The Institution, 
 during the year 1820, prescribed for no less than seven 
 thousand persons. The usual list of those, who have an- 
 nually received professional attendance, beside all such as 
 have had the benefit of vaccination, has comprehended six, 
 seven, or eight thousand. During the past year, our cata- 
 logue exceeds the number of ten thousand patients. Were 
 these thousands indiscriminately left to the sad fate that 
 might attend them, there are at least many hundreds, who 
 would be compelled to find their only refuge in our Hospi- 
 tals and Alms-house. And their deserted, miserable families 
 must soon be driven to the same resort. It is a judicious 
 observation of the Trustees in one* of their Reports : " A 
 saving of at least twenty thousand dollars is annually made to 
 
 * See the Annual Report of the New- York Dispensary, presented 
 January 1829, p. 5. 
 
L 15 ] 
 
 the city, by those domiciliary medical visits, and that general 
 attendance on the sick, which is the object of this Institution.^^ 
 
 Of its peculiar merits, our City Corporation could not 
 long be unaware. They beheld it, every hour, extending 
 aid to the industrious, and not only preserving unto them 
 their families, but at the same time to the public their im- 
 portant labors. They beheld it anticipating diseases by 
 precaution, and administering to multitudes, for several 
 years successively, its numerous and valuable benefits. 
 And they beheld all this done with so little vain obtrusive- 
 ness, that while the city had been favoured with inestimable 
 blessings, it was unconscious of the hand that had bestowed 
 them. Our Common Council with great liberality sup- 
 plied the Institution's pressing wants ; and their bounty 
 proved both an encouragement and stimulus. 
 
 Ever since the remote epoch of the year 1 790, the amia- 
 ble genius of the Dispensary has been hovering over our 
 great metropolis. On trembling wings, it has gone through 
 every street, and lane and avenue. It has diligently sought 
 out the ipcpr and suffering ; it has awakened tender sensi- 
 bilities in their behalf ; it has bound up their wounds ; it 
 has allayed their anguish ; it has dried their tears ; it has 
 saved myriads* of lives from an untimely sepulchre. 
 
 But, while dispensing all these gifts, it has had no suita- 
 ble apartments, to be called its home. 
 
 With mingled sentiments of joy and grief, it viewed, with- 
 in the confines of a rival city, just such an edifice as it desired 
 to rear, occupied by a similar Institution. Founded but 
 
 * During the last eight years, according to the Annual Reports, more 
 than sixty thousand patients, afflicted with every variety of disease, have 
 experienced the benetit of the Disix?nsary. 
 
[ 16 ] 
 
 four years previous to our Dispensary, it very soon acquired, 
 by its donations, and subscriptions, and bequests, a perma- 
 nent productive fund, and an ample revenue. While the 
 last twenty years have been oppressing our Trustees with 
 every discouragement, our neighbours have been possessed 
 of a commodious building, that is situated on an eligible spot, 
 and has added one to the various monuments of that brother- 
 ly kindness and charity, from which our Philadelphian sister 
 has derived her name. 
 
 But our sick laboring poor have had no proper edifice 
 provided for them. During the long lapse of many years, 
 they have resorted to an uninviting, small frame house, ap- 
 propriated to the several incongruous purposes of a drug 
 depository, a consulting room, an operation chamber, and 
 a common hall, w^here every age, and rank, and sex, and 
 color, met in indiscrimate confusion. When that friend 
 of suffering humanity, the philanthropic Howard was pur- 
 suing his career, he consecrated, by his footsteps, lazarettos, 
 prison-ships, and far less favored homes of the unfortunate. 
 But as he traversed Europe in his generous zeal, he heaved 
 full many a sigh, as he reflected on the importance of their 
 amelioration. And no true friend of suffering humanity has 
 passed that humble shed, which we have now deserted, and 
 which has so long been designated, in large dusky capitals. 
 City Dispensary ; and has not himself heaved the sigh, and 
 himself experienced the emotions of the great philanthropist. 
 
 Yet even in that humble shed, and in their darkest mo- 
 ments, the trustees did not despond. With beaming eye, 
 Hope still lifted up her finger, and pointed to the consum- 
 mation, which we are convened to celebrate. 
 
 To the Trustees of the Institution I would say. 
 Welcome here ! You are to-day exhilarated by the most 
 
[ 17 ] 
 
 animating thoughts. You are convened in the very edifice, 
 toward which your anticipations have so long been directed. 
 
 This day marks the most important epoch, in the history 
 of the Institution, that has been committed to your care. 
 Among your number there is one, who took an active part 
 in its original formation. He has watched its various vi- 
 cissitudes for forty years. He has deserved the honor, 
 which you have conferred upon him as your President. 
 In a happy crisis of your counsels, when the rearing of this 
 structure, in which we are now assembled, was proposed, 
 a large donation for this object proved that he applauded 
 the good work. His example was soon followed, by liberal 
 private contributions ; and by the addition of a generous* 
 grant, appropriate to the relation of our municipal fathers 
 and to your admirable cause, the edifice has been completed. 
 
 You this day open your sanctuary, consecrated to the 
 poor man and the stranger. 
 
 To the Attending Physicians of the Dispensary 
 we cannot turn without deep interest. 
 
 It is your province. Gentlemen, to confer those blessings, 
 which the Trustees design. By your fidelity, they shall 
 continue in the public confidence. 
 
 Possessed of privileges, which are the envy of your pro- 
 fessional companions, you may partake the benefit of all 
 those practical select results, which are afforded by ten thou- 
 sand annual patients. Every day, from the hour of nine un- 
 
 * The donation of the Common Council was twenly-five hundred dol- 
 lars ; that of Mr. Watts was five hundred ; and the private contributions 
 amounted to tljyee thousand. See the Annual Report of the Dispen.sary 
 for the last year, p. 9. 
 
 3 
 
[ 18 ] 
 
 til two o'clock, you may attend in the receiving rooms, and 
 there examine and prescribe to such, as may then make 
 application for your medical advice. In your appropriate 
 districts, you may increase your practice to an indefinite ex- 
 tent. You are free to vaccinate all those, vy^ho have not 
 previously been vaccinated ; and, year after year, you may 
 call expressly for this purpose, at each house vv^ithin the dis- 
 trict that has been assigned to you. These prerogatives, in 
 the By-Laws of the Dispensary, are called your duties. 
 But if performed in the true spirit by which you should be 
 actuated at all times, they are your privilege. They con- 
 duct you into the best path of professional experience ; they 
 place before you, in unlimited abundance, 
 
 " the luxury of doing good." 
 
 You have some trials to encounter. Your skilful prac- 
 tice will be unappreciated. Yet, as your occupation may 
 be appropriately termed, in the poetic language of the bard 
 of Mantua,* "artes mutae," y ou should bear in mind, tnat 
 though least ostentatious, it is among the most useful of Apol- 
 lo's arts. You may at times experience the pang, that is 
 inflicted by base ingratitude. You may be indefatigably 
 diligent ; but you will ever be exposed to cruel charges of 
 neglect. You share in this the common fate of the bene- 
 ficent. By your undeviating devotion, let the Trustees be 
 enabled always to rejoice, that the severest scrutiny will but 
 proclaim your praise ! It is a pleasing thought, that with 
 a few discouragements, you have the rarest opportunities, 
 for an enlarged charity to your fellow-men. Upon the bed 
 of languishing, and in the moment of solicitude, the sick are 
 glad at your approach. Amid your various duties, you will 
 always read this record of your influence. 
 
 * Virgil, in his yEncid, Ub. XII. lin. 397. In this passage, the poet 
 tells of the memorable choice of lapyx, and associates the art of medicine 
 with the most endearing sympathies of our nature. 
 
t 19 ] 
 
 And, as the gasping mortal is exhibited before you, and 
 you perceive, as you have often done, that he calls 
 
 "not 
 
 For .Esculapian, but for vioral aid," 
 
 by a few words fitly spoken, to arrest and lead his soul to 
 God, you may then magnify your office.* It has been said 
 by one of old time 
 
 ^Irirpos yap avfip noWav avrd^ios aWuvt 
 
 And since the days, when Homer first pronounced this eu- 
 logyt upon the healing art, unnumbered myriads have felt 
 its truth, and owned when in the agonies of suffering, 
 
 One physician is worth many other men." 
 
 By improving to the spiritual as well as the corporeal good of 
 the afflicted, your frequent, favorable opportunities of united 
 medical and moral aid, — while you perpetuate, you may 
 also sanctify this encomium of your character and office. 
 
 If you wsh the countenance of your professional supe- 
 riors, you need but look around you, to discover it on every 
 side. We rejoice to be distinguished by their presence, on 
 an occasion such as this. 
 
 To the Consulting Physicians of the Dispensary, 
 and to all their Professional Associates here, we would 
 say. Welcome, Votaries of the healing art ! 
 
 * Hippocrates, in describing the accomplished physician, says that he 
 is godlike : IrjTpbs yap <pi\6(jo(pos, ic6deos. Hc details tlie characteristics, ol 
 which such should be possessed ; and among these, he is careful to desig- 
 nate a profound reverence for religion. See his treatise HEPI 'ET. 
 SXHMOSYNHS, Opeba, Tom. I. Sect. 1. p. 25. 1. 19. 3L 31. edit. 
 Francof 1595. 
 
 t Homer ascribes these words to Idomeneus, in praise of the physician 
 Machaon. Se the Iliad, A'. 514. 
 
[ 20 ] 
 
 Your science is adorned with every tribute, that can be 
 afforded by the greatest intellectual and moral worth. It 
 has been told of your most accomplished ancient guide and 
 teacher, that the course of his long life ica^ but a single action, 
 the relieving of the sick; and in his soul there was but one sen- 
 timent, the love of doing good.* And while pronouncing 
 this panegyric upon him, who by pre-eminence has been en- 
 titled the divine Hippocrates ; that great reformer of your 
 science, the renowned Galen, himself emulated these ines- 
 timable virtues. 
 
 Your profession, Gentlemen, has been adorned in every 
 age by multitudes, who have done honor to their distinguish- 
 ed forefathers. With Cullen, they have devoted their best 
 days to the indigent, by gratuitous services. With Fother- 
 GiLL, "the half of all" their goods they have given "to the 
 poor." With Sydenham, they have considered their pe- 
 cuniary far inferior to their moral recompense. In the no- 
 ble amor patriot, of our Warren, and our Mercer, they 
 have left the field of their profession for the field of war, 
 and been the saviours of their country. With our Rush, 
 and our Bard, they have associated science with the most 
 estimable qualities of private life. And in the spirit of 
 Cheselden and Hoffman, Haller, Hartley, Stahl 
 and our own lamented Ramsay, they have not only 
 
 "Look'd through nature up to nature's God," 
 
 but with the learned, the devout, immortal Boerhaave, 
 exemplified the loveliest attributes of meek piety, and un- 
 dissembled Christian faith. In these bright exemplars, it is 
 
 * Nothinor but his own habitual exercise of the best quahties of the head 
 and heart, could have sujrcrested the many admirable sentiments, in regard 
 to the intellectual, moral and religious qualifications of an accomphshed 
 physician, that arc to be found in the 'OPKOS, NOMOS and HEPI 
 'EYXXHMOSrNHi: of Hippocrates, and in the other writings contained 
 in the Jirst Section of his Opera, Tom. I. pp. 32. edit. Franco/. L'SOfx 
 
[ 21 J 
 
 emphatically true,* that while " the skill of the physician" 
 lifteth up "his head;" "in the sight of great men he shall 
 be held in admiration." 
 
 Successors and associates of these memorable worthies ! 
 In commending to you our Institution, which you have been 
 pleased to honor with your presence at this time ; under a 
 deep sense of your past bounties, the Dispensary still looks 
 to you with confidence, for the illustration of the same at- 
 tributes, in its behalf. The Trustees do not ask that far- 
 famed prodigality, for which the amiable Doctor Heberden 
 was once accosted with severe reproofs, but mildly answer- 
 ed,! "After all my charities, I am afraid that I shall die 
 shamefully rich — but they are encouraged by the animat- 
 ing thought, that as the honored mantle of your predecessors 
 has been transmitted unto you, this institution has great 
 things in store for it, to be supplied by your munificence. 
 
 To the Reverend Clergy of different denominations, 
 who have fiow conferred on us the favor of their kind at- 
 tention, we turn with great regard, and say, Welcome, Min- 
 isters of our holy faith ! 
 
 Your glorious theme is in the skies ; but our world of sin, 
 and suffering, and sorrow — yes, the avorld is the fieldX of 
 your devout beneficence. Until the heavens and the earth 
 shall pass away, the poor afflicted sons and daughters of 
 
 * In-the words of EccLEsiASTicus, Chap, xxxviii. r. 3. 
 
 t Dr. Rush relates this fact, in the conclusion of a Lecture on the Vices 
 and Virtues of Physicians. He gives an honorable notice also of several 
 eminent names mentioned above, and adds to them Botallus, Lobb, Rad- 
 cliif, Friend, Russel and Tissot. See Six Introductory Lectures by Benj. 
 Rush, M. D., Lect. V. p. 134. edit. Phila. 180L 
 
 t St. Matthew, Chap. xiii. v. 38. 
 
[ 22 ] 
 
 mortality you shall always have with you. This was the ex- 
 plicit* declaration of your heavenly master. And in rela- 
 tion to the children of poverty, he hath set you an example, 
 that you should follow in his steps. 
 
 Ye heralds of the Saviour's love ! Ye are the disciples 
 of Him, whose history is comprised in that brief, eloquent, 
 yet simple record,f " He went about doing good." With 
 what propriety may you, in every way, be patrons of an In- 
 stitution, the design of which is to heal^ " all manner of sick- 
 ness. and all manner of disease among the people. 
 
 To those, who give the liveliest interest to our anniver- 
 sary, we turn with a peculiar satisfaction. Welcome ye, 
 whose tender, amiable sympathies, invest you with a charm 
 above "the sterner sex." 
 
 It is recorded in the history of ancient times, that ye 
 were daughters of benevolence. Yet in the social circles 
 both of Greece and Rome, with every refinement of the arts 
 which they professed to cultivate, we see the gentler sex in 
 a servility, by which their mental aspirations and their moral 
 feeUngs were continually repressed. Throughout the re- 
 gions of the Oriental continent, no other prospect is ex- 
 hibited. The sentiments of the Arabians, and Persians, 
 and Hindoos are well known. And the Chinese, with their 
 pretensions to be the " Guides and Teachers of the Uni- 
 verse," indulge in prejudices, that are by no means less de- 
 grading and repugnant. The celebrated eulogy § upon the 
 
 ♦ St. Matthew, Chap. xxvi. v. 11. St. Mark, Chap. xiv. r. 7. 
 St. John, Chap. xii. v. 8. 
 
 t In the Acts of the Apostles, Chap. x. r. 38. 
 t St. Matthew, Chap. iv. v. 23. 
 
 § For the author's own words, introduced by some very appropriate ob- 
 servations, see the Life of Ledyard by Jared Sp>»rks, Chap. XI. pp. 
 264. 265. edit. Cambridge, 1828. 
 
[ 23 ] 
 
 native qualities of woman, which was pronounced by that 
 great traveller, our lar-lamed Ledyard, is true indeed, 
 
 '• From sultn* India, to the Pole." 
 
 But to mingle in society ; to give a motive and an interest 
 to all its varied occupations ; to tame and mollify the ruder 
 passions of the soul ; in the expressive language of an ad- 
 mirable moralist, 
 
 To make man mild and sociable to man 
 
 to be what the Great God of Love intended ; and in a word, 
 to occupy the influential rank of Christian women : — this 
 is encouraged, only by the hallowed spirit of our Faith. 
 It invests 
 
 " The crowning of creation's birth" 
 
 with its own loveliest and purest moral drapery ; and it 
 makes woman, by the exercise of her appropriate influence, 
 the niinistermg herald of its best charities to man. 
 
 To all succeeding generations, this is a suitable reward 
 for those,'who, when the Crucified had been forsaken of all 
 others, were his inseparable friends, 
 
 Last at the cross, and earUest at the grave." 
 
 O ! let your sentiments enliven, and your words direct, the 
 tenderest sympathies of man to the relief of the unfortunate. 
 And let us be cheered by the assurance, that around this 
 refuge of the poor man and the stranger, your sensibilities 
 are hovering. It will be an animating thought, that thus 
 you may be considered as the guardian angels of the place. 
 
 With grateful feelings, we would address on this occasion 
 the Municipal Authorities of our city. Welcome ye, 
 
[ 24 ] 
 
 who from the earliest age have been appropriately desig- 
 nated " the guardians of the people." 
 
 Entrusted with the civil rights of our great commercial 
 emporium, it is your honorable charge, to be protectors of 
 the health and happiness of the very chief among the cities 
 of our favored land. You are the chosen fathers of a popu- 
 lation of two hundred thousand freemen. 
 
 It was the pride of ancient kings, to be accounted the 
 preservers of the public health ; and we rejoice, that you 
 have wisely emulated their example. Your grant has given 
 us the very soil, that now supports this edifice, in which we 
 are assembled. In your distinguished generosity, its foun- 
 dation was first laid ; and, when private contributions proved 
 inadequate for the completion of the superstructure, the 
 topstone also was supplied,' with a municipal magnanimity. 
 To you, who are not friends and patrons of the rich only, 
 we commend our Dispensary, which has been founded, 
 chiefly for the industrious poor. 
 
 They were the wisest and most wholesome institutions* 
 of the lirst VALE^TINIAN, that encouraged science and the 
 arts ; trained up Roman youth with a liberal and useful 
 education ; and, to protect the health of all the suffering 
 poor, throughout the fourteen districts of the imperial city, 
 appointed! to these districts fourteen professors of the 
 
 ♦ These are found in the Codex Theodosianus, lib. XIII. tit. III. and 
 lib. XIV. tit. IX., as quoted in the Ancient Universal History, Vol. XVI. 
 B. IV. Chap. III. p. 304., and in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
 man Empire, Chap. XXV. aiv 364 — 375. 
 
 t In this, the leading motive of Valentinian was to provide for the poor. 
 Mr. Gibbon simply states, that Valentinian estabhshed " fourteen skilful 
 physicians, with stipends and privileges, in the fourteen quarters of Rome." 
 But the benevolent design of the Emperor is particularly mentioned in the 
 Ancient Unin. Hist., as just cited. 
 
t 26 ] 
 
 healing art. All these were salutary regulations. And 
 their goodly influence was felt, in the prevailing peace and 
 plenty of the illustrious capital. In science and the arts, 
 we can exult that you, our conscript fathers, have pursued 
 the liberal policy of Valentinian. And faithfully avoiding 
 his unwarrantable, arbitrary use of private property of citi- 
 zens for the completion of his laudable designs, it is to the 
 praise of your good counrcls, that without his ill-gained 
 treasures, you have exhibited a Roman generosity ! 
 
 We desire, never to forget or forfeit your distinguished 
 favor ; but to present new considerations for its exercise, 
 in promoting our best exertions for the welfare of that great 
 civic family, over whose interests you are now presiding. 
 
 As we turn to this enlightened audience, whom we re- 
 gard also as the representatives of our great community, we 
 would appeal to them, to perpetuate the blessings of our 
 Institution, to their children, and their children's children. 
 
 We hftil with sentiments of joy all those, who have a sigh 
 or tear of pity, for the corporeal sufferings of their fellow- 
 men. Is there one here, who 
 
 From his oirn, lias learn' J to melt at others' woe 7" 
 
 We would say to him, Forbid us not, to send our gifts of mer- 
 cy to the wretched. Is there a Christian here? Our ope- 
 rations could not be more graphically pictured, than where 
 the Son of Man describes himself, upon his throne at the 
 great day, announcing to his faithful followers, "I was sick, 
 and ye visited me." To the icealthy who may be present 
 here, We would now say : Reflect upon the frequent, sudden, 
 total changes in the caprice of Fortune, which you behold 
 everyday; and by contributing to the support of our in- 
 valuable Institution, think, that you may be laying up in 
 4 
 
[ 26 ] 
 
 store a blessing for your own posterity. If it is said, that 
 
 " numbers, once in Fortunes lap high fed. 
 
 Solicit the cold hand of Charity," 
 
 it is emphatically true, that the descendants in the third and 
 fourth generation of the most opulent among us, may one 
 day commend, while they participate the fruit of those tes- 
 tamentary largesses which we solicit. Is there one here, 
 who has never seriously reflected on this subject] From this 
 moment, you will be without excuse. And while our mes- 
 sengers of mercy are on their errands to the sick, you can- 
 not, without violating your increased responsibilities, deny 
 them a satisfactory proof of your best wishes. 
 
 Is there an individual among us, who has a heart to give 
 at all ] We would say to him, You can find no medium for 
 your bounty, that is more truly unexceptionable. Could we 
 depict to you the various and unnumbered operations of the 
 Dispensary, in one great panoramic view, you would at a 
 glance perceive, that it has saved myriads of lives, and bene- 
 fited multitudes beyond enumeration. O what pain of bo- 
 dy, and what agony of soul has it alleviated ! 
 
 But we do not wish you, merely to applaud our purposes. 
 There is a volume, which is admitted to be the best of 
 books ; yet tens of thousands turn from it to the empty fic- 
 tions of a day. And while all reverence our Dispensary, 
 they are more powerfully attracted, by some fashionable or 
 romantic scheme of doing good. About our popular benevo- 
 lent societies, there is a radiance that may be clouded, and 
 a spell that may be broken, at one time by civil, and at 
 another by religious discord. But there is no sectarian pe- 
 culiarity, to direct or limit our operations ; there are no po- 
 litical intrigues, with a rude hand to sever our bond of chari- 
 ty. It is therefore our ardent wish, that all the philanthroj 
 
[ 27 ] 
 
 pic, of every religious and political denominaliouy would not 
 only praise, but take a part in our unexceptionable work. 
 
 It should excite the emulation of some among our num- 
 ber, that while so many of our friends around us have been 
 shedding' their last smile upon every other Institution, only 
 two of all who have departed hence into the world of im- 
 mortality, — only two have remembered us upon their bed of 
 death. And one of these, — We hesitate to speak out the 
 humbling fact, — yes, one of these was not our fellow-citi- 
 zen. His pious liberality directs our thoughts toward 
 Newark, and calls upon us to cherish in our memories the 
 name of Hill.* And the Society of Friends, at all times 
 among the foremost in good deeds to man, contemplates, in 
 the person of a benefactor of the human race, one of their 
 number, our only other patron. But now, 
 
 " While hither oft a glance from liigh 
 He sends of tender sympathy," 
 
 by his well-remembered, lovely traits of character, " though 
 dead," the benevolent John MuRRAvf " speaketh," and 
 saith in ithe language of his divine master and example, 
 ** Go thou and do likewise" 
 
 We repeat it, as the ardent wish of our souls, that all the 
 philanthropic of every religious and political denomination, 
 would not only praise, but take a part in our unexception- 
 able work. We can suggest no higher theme ; we can 
 propose no purer occupation : for charity is the centre of 
 
 * A bequest of five hundred dollars, to be appropriated to the humane 
 purposes of the Dispensary, was generously made in the year 18-26, by 
 Peter Hill, Esq., of Newark, New-Jersey. 
 
 7 The Trustees feel a lively sense of gratitude, for the mterest which 
 John Murray, Jun. always manifested in the success of their good 
 work ; and they record with pleasure the evidence of this, in liis l«Mjncv 
 <.f two hundred dolhirs, l«'ft to fluMii in the year 1HI!». 
 
[ 28 ] 
 
 all virtues and all blessedness, on earth and in that bi'ighter 
 world. 
 
 " Hope, and her sister Faith were given, 
 But as our guides to yonder sky ; 
 Soon as they reach the verge of heav'n, 
 Lost in the blaze of bliss, tliey die : 
 But long as Love, Almighty Love, 
 Shall on His throne of thrones abide, 
 Thou shalt, O Charity ! dwell above. 
 Smiling forever at his side !'■' 
 
 In his professional enthusiasm, an eminent physician of 
 our land anticipated, that the time would come, when his 
 successors migh exult in the perfection of their science. 
 " Hospitals" said he* " shall be unknown. The groans of 
 pain, the ravings of madness, and the sighs of melancholy, 
 shall be heard no more. The cradle and the grave shall 
 then no longer be related." Pleasing vision ! Yet illusive 
 as the dreams of Paracelsus', with regard to this world ; and 
 to be realised there, and there only, where, in the sinless 
 transports of the beatified, " there shall be no more death, 
 neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
 pain." But even that enrapturing consummation shall be 
 the fruit of never-failing charity. It is the essence of the 
 Most Merciful himself; it is the salvation of the world ; it is 
 the employment of angels ; it is the bliss of the redeemed ; 
 it is the occupation of eternity ! 
 
 * These are the words of Dr. Rush, in his Lecture on the Causes 
 tchich have retarded the Progress of Medicine. See his (Si.r Introducto- 
 ry Lectures, Lect. VL j). IGG. edit. Phila. 180L