The Portland daily press., 1881-10-12
nIRECTORS' REpORT,

DR.. L. w. Pendleton as Secretary. DR.. j. T.
Gilman presented the report of the Directors
as follows:
DIRECTORS REPORT.
The directors of the Maine General Hospital,
in compliance with prescribed duty respect
/ fully submit to the Corporation their eleventh
annual report.
Before entering upon the usual topics which
| belong to this occasion, it is eminently proper
that we should advert to the great loss which
the institution and the public have sustained
in the death of our distinguished fellow citizen,
and the late president of this corporation the
Hon. ]. b. Brown. His name will long live
| in this community,-connected as it is, either
as leader or liberal supporter, with all the
| large business enterprises inaugurated in the
| course of his active and useful life, TO promote
| the growth and prosperity of his adopted city.
! And we, certainly, and our successors in Office
| will ever hold him in grateful remembrance, as
| the early, warm, and steadfast friend of the
hospital, and one Of its largest and most gem
| erous benefactors.
And still more recently we have been called
| to bow with reverent submission to the Divine
will, in the removal by death of DIR. William
| Warren Greene. chief of the surgical staff of
| the hospital He was called away in ripe
manhood and in the very zenith of his fame,
| ana at u peflOu LOO Wueu ne Was Teduf W cOH-
secrate himself anew to the very arduous and
responsible duties of his profession.
Some of his proudest trinmphs in the field
of operative surgery were achieved in this in
stituiion And it is certainly BETTING, on this
occasion, TO take official notice OF his amented
death, and to place upon permanent record
our united testimony to his transcendent
ability as surgeon, to his keen perceptive
faculties, combined as they were, with COM
manding and richly endowed intellect, and to
his warm aud ever ready sympathies, which
greatly endeared him to widely extended
circle of devoted friends.
He died on board the Parthia in mid-ocean.
on his homeward passage from England, and
his remains were committed to the sea.
The records of the hospital show that three
hundred and twenty-eight patients have been
under treatment during the year, which is an
increase of sixty-ive as compared with the
preceding year. Surgical cases, as usual, pre-
dominate, but the number received in the med
cal department has largely increased, and, we
have reason to believe, will be constantly in
creasing in the future.
The institution is abundantly able TO fur
nish rare facilities for observation and instruc-
ton in the most important branches of patho-
logical science, and in the highest departments
OF special and general surgery. But its legit-
iiiidte uSeluiieSo as az cuuSatoi, winch suoulu
always be kept in view, has thus far been too
restricted, especially when compared with
kindred institutions both in our own country
and abroad.
One great obstacle tc the full attainment of
tots very important object, lies IN the fact that
we have not suitable place where medical
and surgical clinics can be held. The apart
ments now appropriated to operative surgery
consist of two small contiguous rooms con-
nected by folding doors, on the lower floor of
the pavilion. They were originally designed
for the use of PATIENTS and are too limited in
size, if not inconvenient for surgical purposes,
and wholly inadequate for clinical instruction.
We need commodious amphitheatre where
clinics can be neld and operations be per-
formed and witnessed when admissible, by
physicians and students of medicine and
others who may be interested in the medical
profession.
The necessity of such structure was FORE
seen from the beginning, and elaborate. draw
ings of one suitable in every respect for our
present and prospective wants will be found
in the original plan of our architect but
financial considerations compelled US to post
pohe ils cona'i u..ion' ~ SonSisee mainly =, a
large room WIN ascending senl-cfcular
seats adjoining apartments for etherizaton
and o,har curgioal purnasas aud roon, for