INSTITUTION OF THE BOSTON DISPENSARY, FOR THE JMEDIOAL RELIEF OF THE POOR. INCCWtoR.'.TED 1801. Boston: PRINTED BT CROCKER AND BREWSTER, No. 47, Washington Street. 1829. ACT OF INCORPORATION. An Act to Incorporate Samuel Parker and others into a Society, by the name of the Boston Dispensary. Whereas certain persons did in the year 1796 associate and establish a charitable Institution in the town of Boston, for the purpose of affording medical advice and relief to the sick poor of said town, under the name of the Boston Dis- pensary: And whereas said Institution has been of general and essential service to such persons as are not of ability to procure medical advice and aid for themselves; and the Managers of said Dispensary have represented to this Court the difficulties under which they labor for want of an Incorporation, and have petitioned for an Act remedial of those difficulties: And inasmuch as the intentions of said persons appear to be deserving of encouragement- Sect. 1. Beil therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the Rev. Samuel Parker, Samuel Stillman, and Samuel West, Doctors in Divinity, William Tudor, John Andrews, Thomas Davis, Stephen Gorham, and Samuel Dunn, Esquires, Jonathan Amory, Jr. Thomas Brewer, and Benjamin Bussey, Merchants, and Nathaniel Smith, Physician, all of said Boston, the Mana- gers of said charitable Institution, together with their asso- ciates be, and they hereby are incorporated and made a body politic for the purposes aforesaid, by the name of the Boston Dispensary; and that they, their associates and suc- cessors, have perpetual succession by the said name, and have power to make by-laws for the preservation and ad- vancement of said Institution not repugnant to the laws of this Commonwealth. Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That the said Boston Dispensary be, and it is hereby authorized and empowered to 4 make, appoint and have a common seal, and is hereby made liable to be sued, and enabled to sue and defend in its cor- porate capacity in any of the Courts of Record of this Com- monwealth; and is hereby licensed and empowered to make purchases and to receive grants and donations of real and personal estates, and to hold the same for the charitable purposes aforesaid; provided the rents and profits of the real estate, together with the interest of the personal estate, shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and to manage and dispose of such estates, as to the said Corpo- ration shall appear fit. Sect. 3. Be it further enacted by the authority (foresaid, That the contributors to said Institution shall meet at Bos- ton on the second Thursday in October, annually, for the purpose of electing by ballot twelve Managers and a Treas- urer, public notice of the time and place of holding such meeting being given once at least in two of the newspapers published in said town seven days before the day of meeting, and votes may at all elections be given either in person or by proxy. Sect. 4. Be it further enacted, That the business of said Managers shall be to appoint the Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecary of said Dispensary, to provide medicines for the patients recommended by the contributors, and to regulate all affairs, relative to the Institution, any three of whom shall constitute a quorum. And all instruments which the said Managers shall lawfully make and execute, shall when signed by their Chairman, Treasurer or Secretary, and sealed with their common seal, bind the said Corporation and be valid in law. Sect. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Rev. Samuel Parker be, and hereby is authorized, by public notice in two of the Boston newspapers, to call the first meeting of said contributors at such time and place as he shall judge proper; at which meeting the said Corporation shall have all the power vested in them at their stated an- nual meetings in October, but the officers then chosen shall not continue in office longer than the next meeting in Octo- ber, unless elected anew. [Approved by the Governor, Feb. 26, 1801.] INSTITUTION OF THE BOSTON1 DISPENSARY. It having been found by experience, both in Europe, and in several of the capital towns in America, that Dispensaries for the Medical Relief of the poor are the most useful among benevolent Institutions, a number of gentlemen propose to establish a public Dispensary in the town of Boston, for the relief of the sick poor, which they presume will embrace the following advantages: 1. The sick, without being pained by a separation from their families, may be attended and relieved in their own houses. 2. The sick can, in this way, be assisted at a less ex- pense to the public than in an hospital. 3. Those who have seen better days may be comforted without being humiliated: and all the poor receive the ben- efits of a charity the more refined, as it is the more secret. For the promotion of the design, the following regulations are established by the subscribers to this charity. RULES OF THE BOSTON DISPENSARY. 1. Each contributor who shall pay five .dollars annually to the Treasurer, shall be entitled to the privilege of having thirty patients for one year, under the care of the Dispen- 6 sary, and those who subscribe fifty dollars shall have the same privilege during life. 2. A Board, consisting of twelve Managers and a Treas- urer, shall be annually elected on the second Thursday of October, by a majority of the contributors present at such meeting, and votes may at all elections be given either in person or by proxy. The Board shall meet quarterly, unless oftener convened by the Secretary. Three Managers shall constitute a quorum. Their business shall be to provide medicines for the sick, and to regulate all affairs relative to the Institution. 3. One or more attending and two consulting Physicians, and one or more Apothecaries, shall be annually elected by the Managers, and districts assigned them. Any one of the attending Physicians, having served the Institution three years, shall not be eligible to be rechosen, provided other suitable candidates apply. 4. Every case shall be duly attended, if recommended by a contributor in a written note addressed to the attending Physician. The attending Physicians shall have a right to apply for advice and assistance to the consulting Physicians. 5. No persons shall be deemed objects of this charity, but such as are really necessitous. 6. All the phials must be returned to the apothecary; any patient who neglects to return them, shall be deprived of the benefits of the Dispensary. 7. The Committee appointed annually to examine and settle the Apothecaries accounts, may allow arrow-root, sago, oat-meal, leeches, trusses, or any thing the funds of the Institution will authorize, to add to the comfort of the patients. 8. The Treasurer will pay all accounts for advertising which are approved of by the Secretary, and the apothecary accounts approved of by the Committee and the Chairman. 7 F'orm of a receipt given to each contr ibutor by the Treasurer. BOSTON DISPENSARY. A. B. is entitled to all the privileges of a con- tributor to the Boston Dispensary, having paid subscription for year. Treasurer. Form of a recommendation of a Patient, to the care of the Dispensary. I recommend TO THE PHYSICIAN OF THE BOSTON DISPENSARY to the care of the Dispensary, believing proper object of this charity. to be a Contributor. Boston, 18 R ules to be observed by the Physicians of the Boston Dispensary. 1. The Physician shall attend all such patients regularly recommended, as are under confinement, at least once a day. 2. He shall keep a record of the names of the patients under the care of the Dispensary of whom he is the physician, of the disorders under which they labor, their age and occupation, and with respect to those whose disor- ders shall prove fatal, of the time of their death, which re- 8 cord shall be laid before the Managers annually, or oftener, if demanded. 3. It shall be the duty of the Physician, to suggest and lay before the Managers for their consideration any new regulations or improvements that may occur to him, which will have a probable tendency to promote the usefulness of this Institution, and make it more extensively beneficial. Rales to be observed by the Apothecaries of the Boston Dispensary. 1. The Apothecaries shall deliver no medicines to any person on the account of the Dispensary, who is not recom- mended by a contributor, agreeably to the adopted printed form. 2. When any person brings or sends a recommendation as aforesaid, the Apothecary shall separate said recommen- dation from the rules to be observed by the patient; the former he shall keep on file, and the latter shall be deliver- ed or sent to the patient. 3. Each Apothecary shall keep a fair record, in a book to be provided for that purpose, in separate columns, of the names of each patient, the contributor by whom said patient is recommended, the date of the recommendation, the phy- sician attending him or her, and the time when discharged. 4. No patient shall be furnished with any medicines from the Dispensary, unless from the advice or prescription of the physician of the Dispensary. 5. No medicines shall be delivered to any patient recom- mended by a contributor, if the said .contributor has, pre- vious to said recommendation, his or her assigned number of patients under the care of the Dispensary; and for the Apothecary's information herein, he shtill be furnished by the Treasurer with an attested list of the subscribers. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE BOSTON DISPENSARY Coffin, Margaret, Life. Cobb, Samuel Codman, Catherine, Life. Child, David W. Chapman, Joseph Channing, William E., Rev. Cotton, Mary, Codman, Charles R., Life. Chadwick, Ebenezer Cutler, Pliny Coolidge, Catherine Chandler, Abiel Codman, Henry Cabot, Samuel Curtis, Thomas B. Crocker, Uriel Callender, John Cabot, Henry Appleton, Nathan Andrews, Ebcnezer T., Life. Amory, John Amory, Hannah R., Life. Appleton, William Armstrong, Samuel T., Life. Alger, Cyrus Austin, Samuel, Jr. Brooks, Peter C., Life. Bumstead, John Brimmer, Andrew- Brown, William, Life. Bussey, Benjamin Bartlett, Thomas Brown, John, Life. Bradford, John Bumstead, Josiah Belknap, Jeremiah Brinley, George Bond, George Bryant, John Bradlee, Joseph P. Blake, Sarah Bradlee, Samuel Ballard, John Byrne, Patrick, Rev. Ballard, Joseph Bowditch, Nathaniel Barrett, Samuel, Rev. Burdett, Henry Bradlee, Josiah Burroughs, George Brooks, Edward Bailey, Ebenezer Bartlett, Levi Binney, Amos Dorr, John, Life. Dennie, Thomas Davis, I. P., Life. Davis, Joshua Doubt, Mary, Life. Derby, Elizabeth Dearborn, Benjamin Dexter, Franklin Davis, J. W. Dennie, Henry Dwight, Edmund Danforth, Isaac Dunn, James C. Dean, Paul, Rev. Dowe, Joseph F. Daniell, Otis Davis, James Coverly, Samuel Coolidge, Joseph, sen. Everett, Otis Emmons, Nathaniel H. Eliot, Catherine, Life. 10 Erving, Mary Eliot, William H. Emerson, George B. Jones, John C. Jackson, James Joy, Hannah, Life. Jackson, P. T. Jackson, Charles Jones, John B. Jenks, Francis, Rev. Field, Joseph, Francis, Ebenezer, Mrs., Life. Foster, James H. Fales, Samuel Fuller, A. W. Fenwick, Bishop Frothingham, N. L., Rev. Fletcher, Richard French, Benjamin V. Flagg, I. F., Dr. Fisk, Horatio H. Foster, William Lee, Joseph, Jr. Life. Lowell, John, sen. Lowell, Charles, Rev. Life. Lane, William H. Lyman, Theodore, Jr. Loring, Charles G. Lamson, John A. Lowell, John, Jr. Lyman, Charles Loring, Josiah Luther, Nathan Lawrence, Amos Greene, Gardiner, Life. Gray, William R., Life. Gore, Jeremiah Greenleaf, Oliver C. Green, Mary, Life. Grant, Moses Gardiner, John S. J., Rev. Green, Sarah Greenough, William Gassett, Henry Gray, F. C. Guild, Benjamin Gannett, Ezra Stiles, Rev. Gilbert, Samuel Gray, Horace, Life. Green, Simon Gray, Harrison, Gardiner, William H. Mason, Jonathan May, Samuel, Life. Melville, Thomas McLean, Mrs. Life. Munson, Israel Mansfield, Isaac Munroe, Edmund McNamara, John Motley, Edward Meriam & Brigham. Motley, Thomas Motte, M. I., Rev. Minot, William Odin, John Oliver, Francis J. Otis, Samuel A., Mrs Otis, Harrison G. Homer, Henry Head, Joseph, Life. Holmes, Galen Hall, I. P., Mrs. Hewes, Samuel II. Haskins, Ralph Homer, G. I. Hammond, Daniel Higginson, James P. Holland, Sarah, Life. Hall, Joseph Huggeford, William H. Head, Francis C. Hams, Richard D. Hill, Aaron Hallet, George Howard, Hepzibah C. Parsons, William Perkins, Samuel G., Life. Parsons, Nehemiah Perkins, Thomas H., Parker, John Pratt, William Phillips, Jonathan, Life. Prescott, Samuel J., Life. Prescott, Catherine Parkman, Francis, Rev. Life. Purkitt, Henry Parker, Daniel P. Prescott, W. H. Payne, Sarah and Mary, Life. Phillips, Thomas W. Perkins, T. H. Jr. Parkman, Sarah Pickman, Benjamin T. Inches, Susan Inches, Henderson Ingalls, William, Dr. Jones, Thomas K., 11 Palfrey, John G., Rev. Parkman, Daniel Pray, Isaac C. Potter, Alonzo, Rev. Peters, Edward D., Life. Pickens, John • Sayer, Joseph Thayer, Joseph Tucker, Richard D., Life. Tilden, Joseph Tuckerman, Edward, Life. Tappan, John Tuckerman, Gustavus Thatcher, P. O. Thorndike, Israel, Jr. Thorndike, Charles Thorndike, Augustus Ticknor, George Tuckerman, William Thayer, Gideon F. Torrey, Samuel Tappan, Charles Thayer, Joseph H. Thomas, Thomas K. Quincy, Josiah Quincy, Josiah, Jr. Russell, N. P. Ritchie, Andrew Reid, John T. Russell, Benjamin Richards, Paul D., Life. Revere, Joseph W. Rogers, John Rogers, John Gray Rollins, Ebenezer Rogers, Henry B. Russell, Joseph Vose, Reuben Sears, David, Life. Sabine, James, Rev. Stanton, Francis Simpson, Charles, Jr. Swett, Samuel Sumner, William H. Sigourney, Henry Shaw, Robert G. Snelling, Samuel Snow, Gideon Sargent, Daniel Savage, James Sturgis, William Sullivan, William Stoddard, Charles Shaw, Lemuel Stedman, Josiah Snelling, George II. Sumner, Charles P. Sohier, W. D. Walley, Charles, Life. Walley, Samuel H., Life. Williams, John D. Wales, Thomas B. Wigglesworth, Thomas Winslow, Isaac Webster, Redford White, Charles Ware, Henry, Rev. Wells, Charles Weld, Daniel Waterston, Robert Whitwell, Samuel, Jr. Winthrop, Thomas L., Life. Welsh, John Wetmore. Thomas Wilkins, John H. Willard, Solomon Ward, Artem as Winchester, Edmund OFFICERS OF THE DISPENSARY. Elected October, 1828. fHanacjcrs. SAMUEL SNELLING, Chairman. EDWARD TUCKERMAN, JOSEPH COOLIDGE, SAMUEL II. WALLEY, ISAAC WINSLOW, HENRY WARE, Jr. BENJAMIN GUILD, GIDEON F. THAYER, SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, JONATHAN PHILLIPS, SAMUEL MAY, GEORGE H. SNELLING, Secretary. GIDEON SNOW, Treasurer. (ftoiwultins MfisfcUns- JOHN GORHAM, M. D. JOHN DIXWELL, M. D. Visiting JOSEPH W. McKEAN, M. D. Northern District. CHARLES H. HILDRETH, M. D. Southern ' ' J. GREELY STEVENSON, M. D. Eastern " JONAS H. LANE, M. D. Western " EDWARD G. DAVIS, M. D. Centre " HORATIO ROBINSON, M. D. South Boston. SMITH &■ CLARKE, comer of School and Washington Streets.