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INSTITUTION OF THE Boston 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.

First, The sick, without being pained by a separation from their families, may be at­tended and relieved in their own houses.

Secondly, The sick can, in this way, be assisted at a less expence to the public than in an hospital.

Thirdly, Those who have seen better days may be comforted without being humili­ated: And all the poor receive the bene­fits of a charity the more refined, as it is the more secret.

[Page 2]For the promotion of the design, the fol­lowing Regulations are established by the Sub­scribers to this Charity, as—

RULES OF THE BOSTON DISPENSARY FOR THE MEDICAL RELIEF OF THE POOR.

I. Each Lady or Gentleman who pays annu­ally into the hands of the Treasurer Five Dollars, shall be intitled to the privilege of having two patients at one time under the care of the Dispensary.—Those who annually pay Ten Dollars shall have four and so on, in the same proportion: And those who subscribe Fifty Dollars, shall be intitled during life, to the privilege of having four patients attended at one time by the physicians of the Dispensary.

II. A Board, consisting of twelve Managers and a Treasurer, shall be annually elected on the second Thursday of January, by a majority of the Contributors present at such meeting, and votes may at all elections be given either in person or by proxy. 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.

[Page 3]III. Three attending and two consulting phy­sicians and surgeons and an apothe [...]ary of the Dispensary, shall be annually elect­ed by the Managers of the institution.

IV. Every case shall be duly at [...]ended if re­commended by a contributor in a writ­ten note, addressed to the attending phy­sician, agreeably to the first rule. The attending physicians and surgeons shall have a right to apply for advice and assistance to the consulting physicians and surgeons, when they think proper in all difficult and extraordinary cases.

V. As soon as the funds will admit of pur­chasing or tenanting a suitable budding for the purpose, the apothecary shall re­side at the Dispensary. His business shall be to compound and deliver me­dicines, to keep an exact account of the names, places of abode, diseases, times of admission, discharge, &c. of the patients; for which he shall receive such a compen­sation as the Managers shall judge ade­quate to his services.

Form of a RECEIPT given to each CONTRIBUTOR by the TREASURER. Boston Dispensary

A. B. is entitled to all the privileges of a Contributor to the BOSTON DISPENSARY, having paid [...] subscription for [...] year

Treasurer.
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Form of a Recommendation of a Patient, to the care of the DISPENSARY, and Rules to be observed by the Patients.
To the PHYSICIAN of the BOSTON DISPENSARY.

I recommend [...] to the care of the Dispensary, believing [...] to be a proper object of this charity.

Contributor.
Day of [...] 17

RULES to be observed by the PATIENTS.

1. THE Physicians are at the Dispensary every day, Sundays excepted, between the hours of twelve and two o'clock, at which time all the patients, who are able to go abroad, are to attend.

2. Those patients who are not well enough to come to the Dispensary, shall be visited at their own houses.

3. No persons will be deemed objects of this charity, but such as are really necessitous.

4. All such patients who, in the judgment of the Physician, are well enough to go abroad, and neglect to attend at the Dis­pensary, for ten days, shall be discharged, as disorderly, from the care and benefit of the institution.

[Page 5]5. All the vials must be returned to the Apo­thecary; any patients who neglect to re­turn them, shall be deprived of the benefits of the Dispensary.

6. Every patient must deliver in their letter of recommendation at the Dispensary and, when cured, take a regular discharge to the contributor who recommended them, or they must not expect to be again re­ceived.

Form of a Discharge.
BOSTON DISPENSARY, [...] 179

[...] is hereby discharged from the care of the Dispensary.

Physician to the Dispensary.

THE following rules, for the direction of the Physician and Apothecary, of the BOSTON DISPENSARY, have been adopted by the Managers.
RULES to be observed by the PHYSICIAN of the BOSTON DISPENSARY.

First. THE Physician shall attend all such patients regularly recommended, as are under confinement, and choose the Physician of the Dispensary, at least once a day, if necessary, and shall also call at the Dispensary every day (Sundays excepted) [Page 6] between the hours of 12 and 2 P. M. to see if any persons are there waiting for me­d [...]cal advice, and to be inform'd what new [...] are recommended to the care of the D [...]ensary.

Second. 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 d [...]so [...]ders under which they labour, their [...] occupy on, and with respect to [...] wh [...]se d [...]s [...]ders shall prove fatal, of [...] of the [...]r death and the number of [...] to ea [...]h, which record hall be laid [...] the Managers semi-annually, or o [...]tener [...]f demanded.

Third [...]t 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, [...] will have a probable tendency to [...] the usefulness of this institution, and make it more ext [...]nsively beneficial.

RULES to be observed by the APOTHECARY of the BOSTON DISPENSARY.

First THE Apothecary shall deliver no m [...]dicines to any person on the ac­co [...] [...]f the Dispensary, who is not recom­mended be a contributor, agreeably to the adopted printed form.

[Page 7] Second. When any person brings or sends a recommendation as aforesaid, the Apothe­cary shall separate said recommendation from the rules to be observed by the pa­tient; the former he shall keep on file, and the latter shall be delivered or sent to the patient.

Third. The 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 physician attend­ing him or her, the time when discharged, and the amount of medicines delivered for his or her use, which book shall be laid be­fore the managers at each of their meetings.

Fourth. No patient shall be furnished with any medicines from the Dispensary, unless from the advice or prescription of the phy­sician of the Dispensary, or some one of the regular physicians belonging to the town of Boston.

Fifth. No medicines shall be delivered to any patient recommended by a contributor, if the said contributor has, previous to said recommendation, his or her assigned num­ber of patients under the care of the Dis­pensary, agreeably to the constitution; and [Page 8] for the Apothecary's information herein, he shall be furnished by the Treasurer with an attested list of the subscribers, and of the sums respectively paid by them.

Sixth. The Apothecary shall semi-annually report to the Managers the state of his ac­counts against the Dispensary, and oftener if thereto required.

AT a Meeting of the MANAGERS of the BOSTON DISPENSARY, March 10, 1797.

Voted, That the foregoing Rules be adopted for the Government of the Physician and Apothecary of said Dispensary, and that they be furnished with fair Copies of the same.

Attest, S. PARKER, CHAIRMAN.
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THE following Gentlemen were chosen MANA­GERS of the Boston Dispensary, the second Thursday in January 1797, to continue in office one year.

  • Rev. Samuel Parker, D. D. Chairman,
  • Rev. Samuel Stillman, D. D.
  • Rev. Samuel West,
  • Stephen Gorham, Esq
  • John Andrews, Esq Secretary,
  • Hon. John Cossin Jones, Esq
  • John Codman, Esq
  • Mr. John Parker,
  • Mr. William Shattuck,
  • Mr. William Brown,
  • Mr. Samuel Dunn,
  • Mr. Thomas Brewer,
  • Mr, William Smith, Treasurer,
  • John Fleet, M. D. Physician,
  • Mr. Thomas Bartlett, Apothecary,
  • Mr. Jacob Kuhn, Messeng [...]r.
The DISPENSARY is k [...]pt at No. 61, CORNHILL, at the Sign of the GOOD SAMARITAN. Subscribers who have paid Fifty Dollars, and have a right to have four Patients for life, under the care of the Dispensary.
  • Mr. Thomas Amory,
  • John Codman, Esq
  • Andre [...] [...], Esq
  • Mr. N [...]lboro [...],
  • Major Nathan [...],
  • Mr. John [...].
LIST of CONTRIBUTORS to the BOSTON DISPENSARY.
  • [Page 10]HON. Samuel Adams, Esq
  • Mr. Seth Adams,
  • Jeremiah Allen, Esq
  • Mr. Jonathan Amory,
  • Mr. John Amory,
  • Mrs. Elizabeth Amory,
  • Mr. John Amory, jun.
  • Mr. Jonathan Amory, jun.
  • Mr. Francis Amory,
  • Mr. Thomas C. Amory,
  • Mr. Jonathan Amory, tertius,
  • John Andrews, Esq
  • Mr. John T. Apthorp.
  • Nathaniel Balch, Esq
  • Capt. Tristram Barnard,
  • Mr. Thomas Bartlett,
  • Mr. Samuel Blagge,
  • Mr. Kirk Boot,
  • Mrs. Elizabeth Bowdoin, 10 Dollars.
  • Mr. Thomas Brewer,
  • Mr. Peter C. Brooks,
  • Mr. William Brown,
  • Mr. Benjamin Bussey,
  • Mr. Joseph Callender, jun.
  • Mr. Gardner L. Chandler,
  • [Page 11]Mrs. Mary Coffin,
  • Mr. Joseph Coolidge,
  • Mr. James Cutler,
  • Mr. George Deblois,
  • Mr. Thomas Dennie,
  • Mr. Ebenezer Dorr,
  • Mr. Samuel Dunn,
  • Mr. Joshua Eaton,
  • Major General Simon Elliot,
  • Mr. Joseph Field,
  • His Hon. Moses Gill, Esq 10 Dollars,
  • Mr. Nathaniel Goodwin,
  • Mr. Samuel Gore,
  • Mr. John Gore,
  • Stephen Gorham, Esq
  • Mr. John Gray,
  • Mr. Richard Green,
  • Mr. Benjamin Greene,
  • Mr. Joseph Greene,
  • Mr. David Greene,
  • Mr. John Haskins,
  • Mrs. Elizabeth Haskins,
  • Mr. Moses M. Hays,
  • Stephen Higginson, Esq
  • Mr. Stephen Higginson, jun.
  • [Page 12]Mr. Oliver Holden,
  • Mrs. Abigail Howard,
  • Mr. Jonathan Hunnewell,
  • Henry Jackson, Esq
  • Hon. John C. Jones,
  • Mr. Thomas K. Jones,
  • Mrs. Susanna Kneeland,
  • Mr. William Lambert,
  • Hon. John Lowell, Esq
  • John Lowell, jun. Esq
  • Thomas McDonough, Esq
  • Mr. John Marston,
  • Rev. Jedidiah Morse, D. D.
  • Mr. William Newman,
  • Rev. Samuel Parker, D. D.
  • Mr. John Parker,
  • Samuel Parkman, Esq
  • Mr. Gorham Parsons,
  • Mr. William Payne, 30 Dollars.
  • Miss Sarah Payne,
  • Mr. David Peirce,
  • [Page 13]Mr. Levi Peirce,
  • Mr. Samuel Penhallow,
  • Mr. Thomas H. Perkins, 10 Dollars.
  • Mr. Joshua Pico,
  • Mr. William Pratt,
  • Mr. Joseph Roby,
  • Mrs. Hannah Rowe,
  • Est. of Hon. Thomas Russell, Esq 20 Dollars.
  • Mr. Samuel Salisbury,
  • James Scott, Esq
  • Mr. William Shattuck,
  • Mr. William Shaw,
  • Mrs. Anne Smith,
  • William Smith, Esq
  • Mr. Samuel Smith,
  • Mrs. Elisabeth Sparhawk,
  • Rev. Samuel Stillman, D. D.
  • Mr. Benjamin Morgan Stillman,
  • Hon. James Sullivan, Esq
  • Mr. Joseph Taylor,
  • Mrs. Elisabeth Temple,
  • Mr. Joshua Thomas,
  • Mr. John Thoreau,
  • Mr. Samuel Torrey,
  • William Tudor, Esq
  • Mr. Edward Tuckerman,
  • [Page 14]Charles Vaughan, Esq
  • Mr. James Vila,
  • Mr. Henry Wainwright,
  • Hon. Oliver Wendell, Esq
  • Rev. Samuel West,
  • Mr. David West,
  • Mr. Robert Wier, jun.
  • Mr. William Woods.

THOSE without any sums affixed to their Names are Subscribers of 5 Dollars per annum.

NUMBER of SUBSCRIBERS to the BOSTON DISPENSARY.
6 Subscribers at 50 Dollars, 300
1 ditto at 30
1 ditto at 20 Doll. per ann. 20
3 ditto at 10 Doll. per ann. 30
100 ditto at 5 Dollars, 500
111 Subscribers, 880

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