"Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital"

Authors

  • Harold Johnston Middlesex General Hospital

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14713/jrul.v8i1.1218

Keywords:

Benjamin Franklin, Bibliography, Printing,

Abstract

A pamphlet in the Rutgers Library, printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall in Philadelphia in 1754, entitled "Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital; From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754" is of real interest because the Pennsylvania Hospital is the first hospital in what is now the United States to have a consecutive and successful operation from its foundation.

The foresight of Franklin and his colleagues as revealed in this pamphlet is utterly amazing. Without previous experience, but
with some knowledge of hospitals in England and on the Continent, these men outlined a plan of organization and adopted rules of procedure which, in spite of the tremendous development in medicine itself, are just as pertinent in the hospital field today as they were two hundred years ago. Their achievement should humble those who have assumed that hospitals are strictly the product of the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Harold Johnston, Middlesex General Hospital

Rutgers University Libraries

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Published

2012-04-10

Issue

Section

Articles