The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-17
A CITY D%ISPENSARY.
MEDICINES AT TEN CENTS. OR MOTH
ING, AS YOU PLEASE.
The system by which Fifty doctors a"
tend $4,000 Patients in IA Near-Ga'h-
eriup of the Sick Poor-The question
of Eligibility.

.riuo of the Sick Poor-The Question
of Eligibility.
The Oldest and largest Of New Yorks
free doctors Offices is the dispensary in
Center street. which is now ninety Two
wears old. and has treated 2,UOO,OVO pa
tents. The old Northern dispensary IN
| CHRISTOPHER street, founded in 1917, treats
| something like 20,0O0 persons IN a year.
the Eastern. in Essex street, founded IN
! 1899. is equally busy, and then there are
the Demjlt. founded in 1871; the North
western. the German. the Northeastern
and a host Of outdoor departments OF nos
pitfalls. and asylums, charitable societies
and the like.
\ reporter spent n day in the Demilt
dispensary at T~wenty-third street and
second avenue. II is a three story Orlck
building. but the basement Is used as a
dwelling. the upper part il leased to the
Dental college and only the first floor Is
used for dispensary purposes. This noor
vas found to consist OF a large open room
filed with wooden benches, divided length
wise by Il partition Of wood and ground
glass separating eight or nine rooms from
the large hall. These and two or three
ordinary rooms that also open into the
main hall are the Offices Of the corps of
physicians. and are called class rooms
being devoted to the treatment Of different
classes OF ailments. The patients know
that certain ailments are treated at certain
hours. between . o'clock in the morning
and j o'clock i'm the afternoon, so that all
the cases Of tO0,hache and other woes
needing the aid Of dentists assemble IN
fine morning. all the sick children come in
the afternoon. along with those who need
electrical treatment. and so on. There is
nm evening class. presided over by two
female physicians, DR.. sara l.. Post and
DIR. Ellen q. Crum. for the treatment Of
women and girls who work in shops and
factories. Every sort OF treatment for
every sort Of ailment except smallpox IS
freely given here.
Whatever misery there is in this perpet-
nal Gathering of the sick poor Is not
visible i'm the main room. There are "a
great many more women than men, and
DIR. Charles G.. Currier, the house
physician. accounts for this by the state
mcnt that women are more frequently i'll
than men. and are more prone to regard
themselves as i'll. when they are not SO,
than men. who are more practical in this
81, i'm all things. and come for help only
when there is something the matter with
them. These women who are seen forever
on the benches waiting their turns to 80
10 the smaller rooms. seem, as "a rule. 10
be neatly dressed. and are often stout and
RUGGED looking Now and then "a bad
cough. or the vince OF the features be-
tokening a twitch 81 pain betray the fact
that they are suffering. The room is we'll
lighted. as clean as wax, h0Crel with
scrubbed boards and plainly furnished. 1t
mieht bee mistaken for the classroom Of "a
Methodist church but for the searching
and comprehensive odor of drugs that fills
the air. As the people come in they go
10 the first of the little rooms, where the
house physician sits, and tell him, through
an open window, what they want.
II want a tooth pulled, sir, 80 says one.
Il have the rheumatism, says another.
Even a crick in the back or a headache
or a sprain are complained Of by others.
Now and then a drunkard totters in.
1--WE been Oh a spree, sir, and / want
to brace up, % said a young and decent
looking a
"Well. you'n have 10 come in the after
noon" SAYS the house physician.
Then give me q dose Of bl0wmide for
! my nerves, he says. A prescription oi
d. bromide Of potassium is made out for him
, with a little chl0ral in il, and the friend
who is with him is told 10 see that he goes
TO bed and 10 sleep and is wakencd
z and brought around In f0ur or five
hours. one woman who has a rela-
s tive with the pneumonia calls it the am
, mOnia, and another one says she has the
brown keeters.n I'm the course Of the
day no such case 0ccUys as that which DR..
D Simpson tells tho Seventh regiment boys
@ that he once had, wherein q negro com
q planned that he had Il brown taste in his
4 mouth" but all things are possible "a
. him who waits and listens IN this dis.
pensary.
At 3 o'clock the dispensary was at it
I busiest. The main room was crowded,
. aad the work was under way ia nearly all
the smaller ones. Just beyond the nery.
q ous room two physicians seemed 10 he
. holding q reception for mothers with
4 babes. nearly all 50 rosy and bright look
p ing as 10 lead TO the suspicion that somc
5 one had advertised for exhibits for a baby
i show. Next door the room for general
f medicine, usually the busiest Of all. where
r ailments not belonging under any general
head are treated, was closed and deserted,
but in the room beyond DR.. Knight wa:
G treating throat ailments. And here was
8 something peculiar and interesting, for he
wore, attached 10 a leather strap around
his forehead, a circular looking glass with
a hole in the center. He held a very SINAI!
looking glass on the end Of a long handle
h The patient opposite him sat with hi,
IS mouth open, and the mirror on the doctor
l. forehead caught the rays of a powerful
IL li.ht and threw them into the man.
4 mouth. In the mans mouth the doctor
- held the little glass in such Il position that
10 the depths of the throat were reflected
f in il. In another room was one O
the best microscopes in the country, q
a German one, that cost $3.50, and that is il
? use on at least half the days Of the year il
II the %dispensary. Further on were The
k rooms Of the experts in dentistry anC
re- women's diseases.
4. 1t has been found TO be impossible 20 de
K eide as TO the eligibility Of indoor patient
for charity treatment. No one can dc
termine, either, whether "a man or womal
-