Book Description

Excerpt from Albany Medical Annals, Vol. 37: Journal of the Alumni Association of the Albany Medical College; December, 1916 If Jefferies' indictment of civilization be valid now, it may be applied much more forcibly to conditions of the past two thbusand years. Some vague traditions of toleration of the sick come down from ancient Egypt, Greece and India, and the Holy Roman Empire at the height of its glory, gave passing thought to the af icted or Weak. Hospitals were created only when Christianity turned the thought of man from attainment of power to the spirit of service, and not until the eighteenth century did science, sympathy and charity unite to relieve the distress of sickness. The history of hospitals is the history of Christianity. Per secution of the early Christians awakened the sentiment of good will to men, which, at first the theoretical basis of faith, soon became its practical manifestation. The best Roman womanhood responded, and Marcella, Paula and Fabiola are recorded as active in propagation of the new doctrine of humanity. Of the patrician class, their apostacy violated custom and tradition as the ranking order still indulged a pagan fancy for the gruesome scenes of the arena. Fabiola, particularly, will remain a superb figure in history as the founder of the first hospital which she established in Rome in the fourth century. Despised and hunted, the fathers of the church abandoned the cities to gratify their longings in solitude. There were many followers into the wil derness, and about these voluntary exiles grew the monasteries, which early assumed the function of hospitals. The word is suggestive, for to the Roman the phrase hospital conveyed the idea of entertainment only; whereas, in the monastic ideal. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."