Man and the multitude; Constantinos Doxiadis, part one

March of Manderson a public service. The American hospital supply corporation. To the. This is Paul Barnes speaking. Well the last program in this march of Medicine series we want to tell you the story of hospitals. We're going to begin the story almost anywhere in the last 20 centuries also almost anywhere from ancient India and Roman to modern Europe and America. Perhaps the best place to begin is with some of the kinds of people who have played a part in the history the history of the hospital as an institution is a long story a long series of overlays of self-sacrifice humanitarianism and service to the suffering. What has it come to after so many centuries. A curious fact about hospital care is that its lowest ebb came in modern times and

continued until the end of the last century. If we could bring back a hospital attendant say the years 16:00 and ask her to describe a ward in her time she might say what was it like. Let me see. I magine a big Baghdad a loaner van a wide map that's where captains and cannot pay us to keep our supplies to the sick ones in a bed unless of course there was a plague epidemic. Then there were more. Naturally they were lousy but when we used to do that sometimes one died in the night. But the body devastated that moment in the morning. We always removes a copses Inza Mani What would you have missed seeing. So you were poor as you were sick. No doubt it was a ring of God.

The story of hospitals is also the story of Princes of humane and gentle rulers who have displayed the virtues of compassion and selflessness to a high degree. In India for example three hundred years before Christ. It is the good prince who has built this shelter for men and animals and other such places. Oh many others these shelters we call CQ style. And to them come all sick and helpless people. Observe. Here some light pleasant music flowers gentleness all available to all who need such blessings. Observe. Here all is sweetness and kindness for the devils of illness love only. See how our doctors where only spotless white. How their hands are scrubbed their fingernails cut short. Do you know. When a

surgeon must operate on a patient. He may not speak lest his breath infect the wound. This is a place which the blessin gods must love and good prince has built. Paul Barnes again. The prince the woman and the saint come together in the life of a mediæval lady of hospitals. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. Whenever you see a hospital called Saint Elizabeth. Remember her. She was born in Hungary in the year twelve hundred seventy. And engaged to a prince before she was out of her cradle. And when in the course of years she married this youthful Prince good because. Their love made the court poets happy.

And all those who knew the young Princess Elizabeth loved her except possibly those serious men who had to run the kingdom of touring. Elizabeth dear Elisabeth Don't cry my dearest everyone has to go on Crusade sooner or later. I know I know. But you understand how it is with me when you are away. I may care for the sick and I may make shelters for them. Well so be it. I go to carry the cross to the infidels but I think that our Lord and Master will probably stay here with you in the ring. Young Prince Ludvig died on his way to the Holy Land. Diseases destroyed him and not the Saracens. Many reports came about the activities of Elizabeth and eventually her father the

king sent a dignified diplomat to enquire. It might not be just be your father the king of the king you sent you for some purpose I suppose. He is due in quiet. Do enquire how to not be disturbed I am not just aired what do you wish to know how my husband died of a fever how he was buried by his good night how his family treated me badly I think. What else is there. Badly you will say but surely you gave away what good you had. I built a hospital nurse the sick you fled from Vote Borgen came here you were given this cost. Surely it is a splendid castle really tell my father that this castle is no longer a castle it is a refuge for the sick it is a hospital. As for myself I earn my daily bread by spinning will put the monks of old and I tell you this is shocking.

OK I think I should inspect this place this hospital. Oh hardly say you are hale and sound while we poor creatures be thinking as to how sad we have even lepers here. Thank you. Elizabeth of Hungary. She died at the age of 24 and became a saint. Perhaps it would have shocked the good Christians of her day to know how appropriate it was that she should become a saint of hospitals. Well the earliest hospitals were temples and the earliest doctors were in the literal sense priests the temples were built to the greater honor and glory of the immortal gods and were later used to the greater relief of suffering humankind. They were by the strictest modern standards good hospitals scrupulously clean and designed to permit the patient to get well in the course of nature. And as for the priests in the course of history they became physicians. Who has inspired unselfish devotion to the medical profession. One set.

Of properties the physician and to the medical faculty. Life is short and dark log. The crisis is fleeting. Experience perilous and decision difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself. But also to make the patient the attendance and externals cooperate. I swear by Apollo the physician and escalate Prius that according to my abilities and judgment I will follow that system of regimen which I consider for the benefit of my patients. And abstain from whatever it is deleterious to give us. Well I could tell you to keep this old son violated may it be granted to be to enjoy life and the practice of the art respected by all men in all times. But should I violate this oath. May the

reverse be my lot. The temples of the Greek doctor priests continued into Roman times. Then when Rome became Christian they were closed some 300 years after the death of Christ. But another answer to illness and suffering came out of the new faith. Here was a conversation between a man and a woman not long after Christianity had become the official Roman faith. The man was a secretary to the reigning Pope and is known to history as St. Jerome. The woman a Christian convert Fabiola good M. Jerome I will hear no objections I will nurse the sick. Surely there is an extreme decision Mr. extreme. Why so. Surely the sick like the poor are always with us. And yet your husband is dead. You are wealthy. Your name stands high in Imperial Rome. Good Teacher good friend. You doubt me. You think me one of those

Polish women with too much money and too much time intent on filling my empty days with with Shall I or did not think so truly but I promise you I shall work no miracles in public. I promise you there shall be no show. Still I would make a place even in my own times where the sick may be eased and in this work I ask your blessing. The load the 5 yo. How much we have lost in her day. Beautiful and wealthy woman. She took her sick to her bosom and even into her own home and nursed them to the last to health or to dissolution. There was no disease so repulsive or so terrible that she rejected this offer. Was there anyone to whom she failed to give. How great a marvel she

was to the people of Rome. They have shown by their behavior since her death. I can hear the sound of the shuffling multitude who flocked in thousands to attend her funeral. In the middle ages. The world split into two parts Mohammedan and Christian and the two parts came into bloody conflict in the religious wars of those times. As the reverse side of cruelty as mercy. So perhaps the reverse side of war is the hospital. So when you figure comes into our story that of the mailed Knight the soldier on that first Crusade a thousand years after the birth of Christ the Knights of Europe rode clanking into battle and fought and died. And when Jerusalem the holy city had been one Godfrey de Young was elected king by his peers but he refused the crown.

What should I wear a crown of gold in that city in which the christ was a crown of thorns. Inspired perhaps by this the Knights of St. John turned from award to the arts of healing and build a hospital in Jerusalem and there in the year 10 99 came God tradeable young with a revenue of his knights Godfrey was busy but impressed. It is a worthy work the Lord Abbot. I thank your lordship I shall see that certain money is handed you for charity's sake. They will be welcome sir. And now I must depart. I have certain cares of state certainly your large ship so. Oh horses Gentlemen are you ready. I've got pretty well out. Why gentlemen do you want me. Would you not. We would not leave this place my lord. Not leave I think I speak for my friends. I know I speak for myself. So

I fought at your side. I was at the in taking of Jerusalem. I saw the holy places freed from the infidel and yet I have NOT TODAY seen the working out of our blessid Lord saying that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. So you would stay here. No battles no honors death it may be of some foul disease. It may be that our Savior will remember us like enough like enough. I grant you. As for myself I must go on to other duties as all no demands yet God knows whether you or I have chosen the better part. The Knights of St. John the Knights hospital as became the Knights of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. These gentle Knights no longer wear mail or carry

lands but they are very much with us in the mid 20th century. This is Maxwell Smart speaking. Would you believe Don Adams hospitals have always been a shelter for the sick and injured. But over the centuries hospital functions have expanded so that hospitals today are the focal point of Community Health dealing and diagnosis therapy prevention education research and social services according to some statistics one out of every seven Americans will be treated in the hospital during the next year. One reason why so many people will receive treatment is that nowadays hospitals work to keep you healthy to prevent illness by early diagnosis. The coordinator of all these people's activities is the hospital administrator. Why not think of this career for you. Many hospital administrators are doctors

or nurses. Others come from a wide variety of other fields to prepare for this important work. And over 20 colleges in the United States now offer graduate work in this hospital administration. Being a hospital administrator office so many rewards not only would you be a community leader but also you would have the supreme satisfaction of knowing that your work was helping your fellow man live a more healthy and hopeful life. What could be more rewarding than being a part of giving man his most precious possession health. If you would like to know more about it write health careers post office box four twenty seven Evanston Illinois. This is Paul binds again with an account of how the sick fared in the Middle Ages.

Every several newcomer to the place called God's house is laid in a bed alone with fair clean sheets clean shirts pillow cases like this is a description of the great French hospital motel of Paris as it existed in the middle ages and even as it continued into modern times. What kind of infinity renders them capable of being admitted to the hotel here Mary. Even every one own age which in itself is a disease. Fevers gouts pox is the stone received in battle or by misfortune. What letters a recommendation must they bring. Veterinarian other about their crying miseries. Seconded by the editor of The Kingdom of Heaven written by the ten men of the Gospel of St. Matthew saying in the words of Christ. What you do to these little ones. You do also underneath. I also have a kind of more powerful recommendation to be addressed to any Christian hot. The hospitals of the Middle Ages were houses of God as the hospital temples of the ancients had

been. Oddly enough it was with the dawn of modern times that hospitals and even medical practice fell into decay. There was an odd notion that disease was somehow an expression of the will of God and that the sick were somehow being punished for their sins. The result was such horrors as were described by John Howard a reformer of the late 18th century. The infirmary at mount a bottle has four rooms for patients. The floor of the room below was dark. The walls were black and filthy. It had in it three patients. In two of the rooms above there were thirteen beds and fifteen patients on the floor was a little dirty hay that made a bed for the nurse. Here I saw a naked pale object who was under the

necessity of tending his shot for bandages for his fractured thigh. No sheets in the House and the blankets were very dirty. The diet is a three penny loaf and two pints of milk already. My tastes did not deceive me. Milk and Water. Going to. The county infirmary at council bar is an old ruinous house very dirty and the windows was stopped with straw. No linen. No blankets but such as are found by the patients diet is water pottage and one pint of milk a day. Besides one sheep's head boiled for all the patients on three days a week. It had been easy to forget what the ancient Greeks the Romans the people of India had

known about the care of the sick. But somehow around the turn of the last century the hospital was reborn in the generous anger of men like John Howard and women like Florence Nightingale who turned nursing into the humane profession. It had once been imagined as Nightingale interviewing a young candidate for her nursing school. And you will hear when you meet I may join the school. Not quite. Have you ever been in hospital. No no I'm afraid not. Mary Pruitt you are a religious god you believe in fairies. Why. Well yes I suppose so. The father always said that your father my idea is probably a gentle man. He has perhaps never been in a hospital either. But I think it only fair to tell you that if you are graduated from my nursing school you will be sent directly to jail and told to turn it into a place of healing and messy.

And with this humane anger there were moments of triumph moments of victory for the new medical science as on that occasion when Dr. William Morton administered either to a surgical patient at Massachusetts General Hospital and sent the man into a deep sleep which lasted miraculously through his operation. At the end Morton asked him Did you feel any pain. No no no pain. It was like something blunt scraping the side of my neck. But no normal pain that you hear that I would get women in order gentlemen gentlemen this is no humbug. We have today seen something of supreme importance. Surgery once and for

all has been robbed of its terrors. Dr. Morton my congratulations. There have been many others who through self-sacrifice humanitarianism and a deep need to search for new knowledge have made the modern hospital what it is today or Dorothea Dix. Once she embarked on her project of visiting the mentally ill of Massachusetts the poor mentally ill of Massachusetts there followed 18 months of sheer horror. Of course it was Dicks we would like to show a lady every courtesy but I fear that you have upset her good waters indeed. And how sure she was abashed to display our female maniac just now. I am glad she has so much feeling. I confess I am puzzled as well. Why did you wish to see her.

She is well she not. It is nearly impossible to remain near her care. She screams curses inby to self against the bars. Surely we both witnessed that. And to add to the catalogue her skin is much diseased and she tears yes I would miss that too. As to your question I suppose I am interested in discovering the awful depths to which humanity may sink. Indeed. And you found a new damp new sink of degradation in our female lunatic. No say no. I did not find it in the heart. You should have let me wake him. He gets right lively when roused now no know if he can sleep if he can sleep let him forget.

Can you tell me something about the old man. Him of course I can. Let me see. He's been like this twenty years oh maw used to be a farmer around here. And has he been near the poor farm all that time. Why no ma'am we only had this poor farm maybe six seven years before that they used to auction them off every year. Well you know what the other is that wasn't much good to the lowest bidder. Now that old feller you saw ma'am he can't walk. Somebody kept him locked up for winter a few years back and why does Pete pros know said he'd been able to walk since. Tell me if he can't walk. Why is he chained now. In a house on Mount Vernon Street Dorothea Dix began to write her great memorial to the

Massachusetts legislature and the nation and the world. I come to present a strong claim of suffering humanity. I come to present people the legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable the desolate the outcast. I come as the advocate of the helpless forgotten insane and idiotic men and women of being sung to a condition from which the unconcerned with Stajan real heart of beings Richard in our prisons and more wretched in our alms houses. That was Dorothea Dix. There were also Joseph Lister. Same advice and well to read a long roll of honor and the roll of honor continues here to tell you about our modern hospitals and the dedicated people working in them is our guest. I am Dr. Edwin I will prize very I am pleased to have this opportunity as the executive vice president of the American Hospital Association to

speak for a few moments about where the march of medicine has brought our community hospital. We owe very much in this march to men like Lester and some of the lice and their fights against infection and child bed diseases and to women like Florence Nightingale. But despite their achievements at the turn of the century the hospital could do little more than nurse the sick. The last quarter century changed all of this. The chemotherapeutic agents such as penicillin and the soft anonymize which earned introduced at Pearl Harbor the miracles of open heart surgery which was started after the war and the explosion of our knowledge into the human organism have made the hospital the very hub of the health system. Today the best of medical care cannot be given to our people without the hospital. It is also the place where those who care for the sick learn how to do it from the

doctor to the nurse to the technician to the dietician. They know what has its failings. We must not be complacent. The hospital's true potential can be reached only if those who work in it and with it extend its excellence to all the reaches of our medical care system. Thank you very much. Whatever the future of the hospital in detail we can expect great things good things as long as the motive which inspires the entire effort can be expressed in Louis passed last statement to the world to the young people of the world. Young men say to yourselves first. What have I done for my instruction. And as you gradually advance. What I've done for my country until the time comes when you may have the immense happiness. Of thinking that you have contributed in some way to the progress

and to the good of you many day. March up medicine dramatizations or great moments in medical history. Much of medicine is brought to you as a public service by the American hospital supply corporation. This is the last program in this series. On this occasion the American hospital supply corporation wishes to thing all of the professional health associations who have helped to make these programs possible. We hope that the scores of people who have provided us with advice and information have found the series interesting and useful. Appearing on today's program were Paul Barnes build risky Gary coffer. Oh my God. You know

the deal. Elouise comer and Maurice Copeland. If you wish to receive a copy of the script used in this program or further information about careers in health and medicine Please send your name and address on a postcard to health careers. Post Office Box four to seven Evanston Illinois. This program was distributed by national educational radio. This is the national educational radio network.