Sanitary economics, or, Our medical charities, as they are, and as they ought to be / by Alexander P. Stewart.

Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary economics, or, Our medical charities, as they are, and as they ought to be / by Alexander P. Stewart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    crimson at seeing their deeds of charity translated into such plain and unseemly English as this. And I purposely “use plainness of speech,” that I may stir up thoughtful and earnest minds to inquire whether we are not unconsciously accustoming our- selves to confound domestic duty with public charity, and deluding ourselves with the idea that we are satisfying the claims of both, while our so-called alms-deeds only serve to conceal from ourselves the havoc, that the canker selfishness is silently working on our kindlier and more Christ-like sympathies. 1 especially desire to concentrate attention on the practice of systematically holding out a bribe (for such it is, disguise it by what other name we may) to draw forth the subscriptions of the wealthy—a practice, the very existence of which proves, that love for the sick poor is not of itself strong enough to secure an adequate support to our medical charities. It is one of those shifts, now-a-days so common, for beguiling or enticing, or, may we not say, cheating people into the commission of charitable acts, from which, if presented in their naked unattractiveness, they would be apt instinctively to recoil. It must take its place in the weary round of dinners, balls, and fancy-fairs, mscalled charitable, and so well fitted, if the task were not so hopeless, to bring down the high looks of our boastful but hollow-hearted philanthropy. If this charge be deemed offensive, there is a simple, and, if our love for the poor be so disinterested, a natural way of escaping from b 2