Extracts from a history of the Massachusetts general hospital, 1810-1851 / Nathaniel I. Bowditch, with a continuation 1851-1872 / George E. Ellis.

  • Bowditch, N. I. (Nathaniel Ingersoll), 1805-1861.
Date:
[1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extracts from a history of the Massachusetts general hospital, 1810-1851 / Nathaniel I. Bowditch, with a continuation 1851-1872 / George E. Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    to Governol*'s Alley or Province Street, where it measured in width seventy-six feet, being about half an acre of land. Stores have now been erected in front on Washington Street; and a block of brick houses, on the northerly side of Province- house Court, stand on the back part of the estate. Its present value issmall [assessed for $600,000, 1898]. But the Corporation will live forever; and it is to be hoped that no future Board of Trustees will alienate this, the first donation made to the institution. Rather let it remain to the latest times an enduring monument of the liberality of the Common- wealth, as in times past it was the representative of its official dignity. And, in acknowledgment of this splendid gift, and of the many subsequent benefits derived from the same source, may our institution always preserve unchanged its corporate name of the Massachusetts General Hospital! April 23, 1811. The first meeting of the Corporatioh was held. The Corporation was organized by [the choice of] a President and Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary ; the Secretary being, ex officio. Secretary of the Board of Trustees. July 5, 1811. By-laws adopted. The thanks of the Corpo- ration were presented to Josiah Loring for the gift of an ele- gant record-book. [Still used, 1899.] February 2, 1813. Trustees first chosen. At first, the Presi- dent always attended the meetings of Trustees, and presided; but, since 1818, the Trustees have acted by a Chairman, who presides at all their meetings ; the duty of the President or Vice-President being merely to preside at the annual meetings of the Corporation. The earliest record-book of the Trustees IS a little volume, of about five inches by eight, of the poorest and cheapest paper and covers, containing a hundred and sixty pages. It forms an amusing contrast with its more brilliant successors. It embraces the period from 1813 to 1817 inclusive.