Extracts from a history of the Massachusetts general hospital, 1810-1851 / Nathaniel I. Bowditch, with a continuation 1851-1872 / George E. Ellis.
- Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch
- Date:
- [1899?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Extracts from a history of the Massachusetts general hospital, 1810-1851 / Nathaniel I. Bowditch, with a continuation 1851-1872 / George E. Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![May 21,1826. The Committee on Mr. Eliot's portrait re- ported that it was painted by Mr. Stuart, and had been placed at the Asylum. [Removed to Hospital, October 10, 1826.] June 12,1826. The Committee appointed at the last meet- ing of the Corporation, to take into consideration the best mode of perpetuating the memory of John M'Lean, recom- mended that the Asylum be hereafter known as The M'Lean Asylum for the Insane; which report was accepted and ordered to be laid before the Corporation. The report itself is copied on the records of the Corporation. It closes as fol- lows : Your Committee have reason to believe, from the information of one of their number, that the proposed arrange- ment will be entirely satisfactory to the friends of the testator and benefactor. The contingency had now occurred, which was contemphited in the charter, of a donation greater than that of the Common- wealth. It was the feeling of Mrs, M'Lean, and also, at tirst, of others of the testator's connections, that the corporate name should be changed. There was an earnest desire to do all that could or ought to be done to express the high sense entertained of this act of munificence. The decision finally made was, it is believed, alike expedient for the Hospital, and just to the deceased. His name was given to one of the two great departments of the institution, on which a very large sum was forthwith expended for the erection of additional buildings, and where many ex- pensive improvements have since been made, so that the actual cost of the establishment which bears his name is more than double the amount realized from his whole bequest. On the other hand, the corporate name remaining unchanged, many eons and daughters of Massachusetts have since contributed to it as a State institution, what perhaps they would have hesi- tated to bestow, if it had borne the name of a private founder.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2122755x_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
