THE SANATORIUM.
Trtis excellent institution, the nature and objects of which were fully explained in a report of the preliminary meeting some months ago, may now be considered as fairly set on foot, by the proceedings of a public meeting held yesterday at the London Tavern. The club sys- tem, hitherto confined to providing cheap luxuries for the wealthy, is in this instance applied to the useful and beneficent purpose of ame- liorating the condition of the middle classes in a time of sickness. What the public hospital is to the poor and working man, the Sana- torium will be to the intellectual labourer; with this difference, that instead of being indebted to a charity for relief, the subscriber will purchase a right to a full share of the benefits of the establishment much cheaper than he could procure ordinary comforts and attendance under similar circumstances. The advantages of such an institution to great numbers of persons in this Metropolis who by education and social position are rendered keenly alive to the want of those appliances and means of recovery, which are as important as medical skill in com- bating disease, are so evident, that one would think it is only necessary to make known the fact of its existence in order to insure it support. To the great majority of persons in the middle ranks of life, who owe their subsistence to personal exertions, a fit of sickness is a heavy calamity ; threatening, if it does not actually involve, loss of the very means of existence, temporary privation and embarrassment, and the bodily and mental suffering consequent thereon. These evils may be materially lessened, if not altogether prevented, by that timely recourse to a curative process which the Sanatorium will induce. Reluctance to call in medical advice, and to "lay tip,, on a slight attack of illness caused by functional disorders, frequently superinduces organic diseases that shorten life and make it a daily state of sinfeting. For such ail- ments, diet, relaxation of labour, and change of air, under medical stir-. veillance, are snore efficacious than drugs; and hi these cases of in- cipient indisposition, as well as in the more rare instances of acute and dangerous diseases, the benefits of the Sanatorium will be of vital im- portance. Take the case of the hard-working intellectual labourer, of any profession, and of either sex, living in lodgings away from family con- nexions ; isolated, self-dependent, and limited in means. The usual avo- cations become burdensome, the spirits sink, the strength fails, and the whole train ofpetty miseries consequent on a disordered stat of the sys- tem oppress body and mind: a physician is applied to—reluctantly, from a dread of the drain on scanty resources by fees : the ease is a common one—general derangement of the animal economy, requiring rest, regi- men, and the usual minute attention prescribed to the valetudinarian. The medicines are taken, but the patient is confined to a close room in a narrow, noisy street—breathing a polluted atmosphere while he re- mains in it, and taking cold whenever he goes omit; and recovery, which with a pure and genial atmosphere, and a strict observance of sana- tary regulations, would be an affair of a week or two, is retarded for months ; perhaps the slight disorder becomes a severe illness, .or a chronic disease as lasting as the life it tends to shorten. and embstter. The case of an individual whose pursuits are entirely Interrupted by some violent disorder, attended by a hireling nurse, mercenary, igno- rant, and heedless—or neglected altogether, except when the dear-
bought visit of the physician returns—is still more lamentable : the symptoms, aggravated by anxiety of mind, urgent wants ill-supplied, and a prospect of future necessities still more pressing, defy the aid of medicine, and death is the only relief for a constitution utterly broken up. These are not fancied misenies—overcharged pictures of afflictions known to but few beyond the sufferers, but instances which are but too familiar. The case of a labouring man who breaks a limb, and is taken to the hospital, where he is cured in a few weeks, and there an end, is fortunate in comparison with that of one for whom there is no hospital, and scarcely the hope of cure.
In the Sanatorium, a payment of about two guineas a week insures the patient bed, board, and medicine ; the attendance of skilful physi- cians and nurses ; the use of a separate room, if requisite ; and the range of suites of spacious apartments, well ventilated, and regulated to
a temperature adapted to the delicate state of invalids ; with the use of baths, and all the facilities and curative means that science has pro- vided in aid of medicine. Strict regularity of regimen, perfect quiet, pure air, and the watchful attentions of qualified nurses, under medical superintendence, are advantages that few but the very wealthiest can command, even at home, where the pillow of the sick bed is tended by the ministering angel of poor mortals—affectionate woman. The Sanatorium is not intended, however, to supersede those kind offices that show -woman in her noblest sphere of duty—soothing the afflicted; though even those who are blessed with wives and daughters, and a comfortable home, may find a benefit to health in the advantages it presents, that would render it incumbent on them to avail them- selves of it for a time. It is the unmarried and solitary for whom its benefits are chiefly designed ; and who would prefer the indepeudeut 'advantages afforded by such an institution—where the comforts of home are joined to the conveniences of a large establishment—to in- curring obligations for friendly hospitality, in sickness. It is a leading principle of the Sanatorium, that the regular medical attendant of every individual takes the entire management of' his patient,
unless the advice of the resident physician be preferred ; the medical officers of the institution only following the directions given by him : and it is a part of the plan to instruct nurses in the duties of their call- ing.—a most desirable extension of the uses of the institution.
The proceedings of the first public meeting were chiefly formal. Mr. PArrisoN, the Bank Director and Member for the City of London, took the chair; Dr. Sorruwoon Small. the projector of the Sanatorium, ex- plained its objects and enforced its utility ; and resolutions appointing the Committee and constituting the Club, were moved and seconded by
several speakers, who stated cases -where the benefits of such an institu-
tion would have been appreciated by some of the most highly-gifted men. The ladies, who formed a considerable portion of the assembly, appeared to take a lively interest in the subject: indeed, to that nume- rous and valuable class, governesses and teachers, most of whom are far away from home and friends, the Sanatorium will be peculiarly bene- ficial.
The number of life subscribers of ten guineas each, requisite to make up the sum of 3,0u0/. as a fund to commence operations, will, it is to be hoped, soon be filled. Subseribers of a guinea annually are already numerous ; they are privileged, not only to share the advantages of the establishment at a lower rate of cost, but to recommend non-subscribers
as inmates. Sonic lidsely sentimental objections were made, that such an institution would tend to weaken the ties of affection and deaden the active charities of' life ; but we incline to think with one of the speakers, that so fbr from this being the case, the kindly feeling. of many will operate as a prejudice against their relatives availing them- selves of its benefits. Any suspicion of interested motives on the part of the medical men connected with it, is totally unfounded; but even if such a feeling existed, that could not lessen the utility of the scheme, by reason of the regulation respecting the attendance of physicians. The purely benevolent motives of Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH are above question.
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