[February 18. 1737.]
MEMORIAL concerning the SURGEONS HOSPITAL.

WE the SURGEON-APOTHECA⯑RIES in Edinburgh, Erectors of the Surgeons Hoſpital there, having lately ſet up and brought to ſome Bearing this new Hoſpital, do think it our Duty to publiſh this ſhort Account of our Proceedings, before we call in the Money ſubſcribed for.

WE have with Pleaſure obſerved the good Effects of that pious and laudable Erection of the Royal Infirmary: But have it to regret, that though the Funds of their Hoſpital be conſiderably increaſed, and managed with great Care and Frugality by [4]the Directors; yet we were often called to vaſt Numbers of poor, miſerable, ſick People; who could not be received into the Infirmary, becauſe their Stock is no ways anſwerable to the Number of the diſeaſed Poor.

How often did we ſee poor Servants or Workmen, caſt out of Buſineſs by Indiſpo⯑ſition, confined to a Bed of Straw, unable to help themſelves or hire others, deſtitute of Meat, Drink, Fire, and all other Things neceſſary for their Condition! Which made it impoſſible for us, though never ſo willing, to give that Relief by Medicine which their Caſes required.

MISERABLE Objects of this kind were ſo numerous, that in Town and Suburbs they amounted to ſome Hundreds, (of which nine or ten only could be taken in to the Infirmary at a Time.) What then muſt be the Number in Scotland! Here Pity and Compaſſion, Charity and brotherly Love, Love to our Country, and even common Humanity ſet us a thinking how to provide ſome Relief in ſuch calamitous Caſes.

IT was for this Purpoſe that we frequent⯑ly conveened, and conferred together: But [5]finding it impoſſible for us to attend, and provide any conſiderable Number with fuit⯑able Accommodation, as they lay ſcattered in ſo many different and diſtant Places; we concluded, that the Erection of a new Ho⯑ſpital was the only proper Mean by which ſuch Numbers could be duly taken care of by us.

THEREFORE we reſolved and determin⯑ed to afford them all the Aid and Aſſiſtance which our Surgery and Circumſtances would admit of, by laying the Foundation of a new Hoſpital, for curing and taking care of ſuch, whoſe Caſes in a peculiar and proper Senſe require a Surgeon.

FOR this Purpoſe, we concerted to enter into a Bond of Erection, obliging each of us to contribute Money and Medicines ſuffi⯑cient to ſet this good Work a-going, and to give our Attendance gratis during our Life.

OUR next Step was, to lay our whole Scheme before our Brethren at a Meeting of the Corporation, for their further Advice or Approbation, as well as to invite as many of them as inclined to join us.

AT which Time our Deſign was approved of, and they agreed to call our Houſe by the Name of The Surgeons Hoſpital.

As ſoon as we had projected the Erecti⯑on of an Hoſpital, it immediately occurred to us, that the erecting a new, or enlarging the old one, might equally ſerve the ſame Ends: Therefore it was expreſly ſtipulated amongſt us, That as ſoon as we ſhould enter into a Bond of Erection, we ſhould confer with, and make Propoſals to the Managers of the Infirmary, concerning an Union of the two Hoſpitals.

ACCORDINGLY Propoſals of this kind were made to them in Writing, Conferences held for that Purpoſe, a Memorial given in to us by the ſaid Managers, and a Reply to that Memorial was delivered to them by Mr. Kennedy, our Preſes, and at that Time Deacon of the Surgeons, upon the firſt Monday of July 1736; to which we have got no Anſwer theſe eight Months.

THIS we thought fit to mention, to ſhew the World our Willingneſs to unite the two Hoſpitals.

ABOUT this Time it was often objected to us, That when the whole Corporation was invited and deſired to ſerve the Royal Infirmary, when newly erected, we refuſed to concur and give our Aſſiſtance.

HERE we muſt deny the Fact: And we cannot but wonder how ſo many People fall into this Miſtake, ſo directly contrary to a publick Deed of the Corporation of Sur⯑geons; who at that Time obliged them⯑ſelves, by an Act of their Society, to ſerve, and furniſh Medicines to the Infirmary gratis, with as great Security for the Per⯑formance thereof as ever was given by them as a Society: Which Act is recorded in the Books of the Calling, dated the 10th Fe⯑bruary 1729.

WHEN Things were brought this Length, we began to contrive, how to make our Scheme more extenſive, than what could be expected immediately from ſuch ſmall Funds: Therefore it was made an Article in our Conſtitution, not only, to take care of as many as our Hoſpital and Funds could accommodate; but likewiſe, to give our Advice, with all proper Medicaments and Dreſſings, to any who ſhould be able to come to, or lodge near the Hoſpital.

AND, in the next Place, we appointed, That our Students and Apprentices ſhould pay ſomething into the Hoſpital-fund year⯑ly: Which they have hitherto done moſt chearfully; and we hope, that, by their Help, and other charitable Donations, we ſhall be able to make this Hoſpital a School of Practical Surgery; not only, advantage⯑ous and inſtructive to them and their Suc⯑ceffors in our Shops, but profitable to our Country, and in particular to this Metropo⯑lis: For it is certain, that as the Surgeons of this Country have been much employed, and had conſiderable Fame throughout the World, ſo this Improvement of their Edu⯑cation will add to that Fame, and make Edinburgh an excellent Nurſery for Phyſi⯑cians and Surgeons; and, by being ſuch, how many thouſand Pounds will be ſaved to our Country in a few Years, which now are ſpent in Leyden and Paris?

ADD to this, what Sums of Money we may expect will be returned to Scot⯑land, by our own Surgeons yearly returning home from all Corners of the World: Some have calculated L. 100,000 Sterling remit⯑ted to Scotland this Way within theſe twenty Years paſt; and, if we judge of what may be, by what has been, it will be no inconſi⯑derable [9]Branch of Trade to our indigent Country.

ANOTHER Advantage wich we beg Leave to ſay will ariſe from this School of Surgery is, That our Country will hereafter be better ſerved by Surgeons at home, when all of them may have the Advantages of Hoſpitals at Edinburgh, where their Educa⯑tion may be compleated, at an Expence all of them can afford; which never was the Caſe before.

FROM what we have obſerved concerning the Advantages of this School of Surgery it is evident, That if this Piece of Educati⯑on be confined to a few Surgeons and their Apprentices, ſecluding all the reſt, (what⯑ever private Benefit might ariſe to theſe few Surgeons, by ſuch a Monopoly) it would not only be prejudicial to all thoſe who were ſecluded, but manifeſtly ſo to the Nation in general.

IF this Piece of Education be confined to a few, the Benefit ariſing from it to our Country muſt be limited proportionally: Suppoſe, for Example, one Fourth of our Apprentices and Students get their Educati⯑on compleated by Hoſpitals, and that the [10]remaining three Fourths muſt want it; then, of Conſequence, a few of thoſe who go to ſerve abroad may perhaps bring Money and Credit to our Nation, while the greateſt Part of them go unfiniſhed, to caſt the Bal⯑lance the other Way.

As for thoſe who ſtay at home to ſerve in their own Country, a few of them like⯑wiſe may be ſufficiently qualified for their Buſineſs, and fit to be truſted with the Lives and Health of the Lieges, while three Fourths of them, for Want of a complete Education, do more than over-ballance the Good done by the few skilful.

THIS is pretty obvious, and of this we were all ſenſible at the Beginning, and it had no ſmall Influence on our firſt Reſoluti⯑ons; therefore, we agreed to make our Scheme as extenſive likewiſe in this View, and as uſeful to all the Surgeons and Ap⯑prentices in Edinburgh as poſſible, by in⯑viting the whole Corporation to join us, and to which they ſtill have Acceſs.

BUT to return to the further Progreſs of this Affair: We next laid down Rules for the right Oeconomy of the Houſe, much the ſame with theſe obſerved in other Ho⯑ſpitals; [11]and opened our Houſe to Patients on the firſt of July laſt: Since which Time we have been receiving in and taking Care of as many as our Houſe could accommo⯑date, where two of us have attended punctu⯑ally every Day from Eleven to Twelve in the Forenoon, except Sunday, when we attended from four to five Afternoon, and the ſame attending Surgeons examine all Accounts every Monday.

IN this Place, we think it not improper to take Notice, that however much we were convinced of the Neceſſity of this Ho⯑ſpital when firſt it was projected, yet the ſhort Experience we have had ſince the firſt of July, has ſet this Neceſſity in a much ſtronger Light than we could poſſibly have imagined before this Trial; for although we have been, by the Bleſſing of GOD, uſeful to, and cured many, yet if the Reſt of the World were to ſee what Numbers we are obliged to diſmiſs, purely for want of larger Funds; were they likewiſe to ſee from what ſlight Strains, or inconſiderable Bruiſes, incurable Diſeaſes ariſe, when not taken care of timeouſly, they would very much lament our having neglected this Piece of Charity ſo long.

THE Gain of the moſt Part of Servants is but daily Subſiſtence, and few of them can afford to be many Days idle; hence it is, that ſo many of them are made lame and mutilated, not to mention thoſe who die, purely becauſe they could neither afford themſelves proper Diet, Reſt, nor Medicine at the Beginning of the Diſeaſe, when they might have been ſpeedily and eaſily cured: So that in Truth, they may be more pro⯑perly ſaid to derive all this Miſery from Want than Diſeaſe.

IF no Proviſion is made for the diſeaſed Poor, and if they are left to linger out a miſerable Life, without Expectation of any other Relief than Death, they are, in ſome Reſpect, in a worſe Condition than the Beaſts of Burthen, the Proprietor for his own Sake taking Care of them, while the poor Mechanick or Day-labourer is caſt out naked and deſtitute, to ſtruggle with Pain, Sickneſs, Poverty and Death.

IT is with Pleaſure that we reflect upon the publick Spirit which prevails at preſent for encouraging Trade and Manufacture, and we hope Hoſpitals may be juſtly eſteemed uſeful that Way; for as the Riches of a Trading Nation chiefly conſiſts in the Num⯑ber [13]of well employed Hands, ſo of conſe⯑quence thoſe who die through Want of timely Help, are ſo many working Hands cut off from the Community: And the lame and the mutilated are often not only miſe⯑rable themſelves, and a Burthen to their afflicted Friends, but, if we conſider their Number throughout the Nation, they will be ſound no inconſiderable Tax upon the Country.

OUR next and great Care about this Hoſpital was, to ſettle it upon a laſting Foundation, that it might not poſſibly prove abortive before conſiderable Contributions could be raiſed: This we have done in ſuch a Manner, as to make the Stability of our preſent Scheme pretty certain.

NOW our laſt and conſtant Concern is, how to make it more extenſive; for the Number of the Diſeaſed is great, and our preſent Fund ſmall.

HITHERTO we have done our Part, and ſhall continue to do according to our Abi⯑lity.

EVERY Tradeſman employed in fitting up the Houſe has contributed ſomething; and [14]now we apply to all who ſhall ſee this Me⯑morial, hoping none will be ſo hard-hearted as to diſcourage, or ſo wicked as to oppoſe an Undertaking ſo charitable, ſo neceſſary for the Poor, and ſo beneficial to our Country.

Therefore, Generous Readers;

WE now call upon you all, by the Titles of Men, Brethren and Chriſtians, to denote our common Tie of Humanity, and yet nearer Tie of Chriſtian Charity. By what Arguments ſhall we perſwade you to extend your Bounty to a poor Hoſpital in its Infancy?

IF you value the Prayers of thoſe you may reſtore to Health and Happineſs: If Pity and Compaſſion, the Intereſt of your Country, or the Approbation of our Sa⯑viour, can have Influence; come, like the good Samaritan, pour Wine and Oil into, and bind up the Wounds of your afflicted Brethren, by your Charity. Imagine your ſelves given up to Pains and Want like theirs, or rather come and ſee the Miſeries and untimely Deaths which you might ſo eaſily prevent, (for there is an Eloquence in viſible Diſtreſs beyond what can be ima⯑gined;) and we hope there will be no Need [15]of other Solicitations to diſpoſe all of you to contribute according to the Circumſtances with which GOD has bleſſed you.

N. B. All the Money that is ſubſcribed for is payable to Mr. William Ward⯑rop Surgeon, our Treaſurer.

Subſcribers for L. 5, or upwards, may be choſen Directors.

The Names of Subſcribers for L. 1, or upwards, will be printed in due Time.