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FOUNDLING HOSPITALS

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 747 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FOUNDLING HOSPITALS , originally institutions for the reception of " foundlings," i.e. See also:

children who have been abandoned or exposed, and See also:left for the public to find and See also:save. The See also:early See also:history of such institutions is connected with the practice of See also:infanticide, and in western See also:Europe where social disorder was rife and See also:famine of frequent occurrence, exposure and extensive sales of children were the necessary consequences. Against these evils, which were noticed by several See also:councils, the See also:church provided a rough See also:system of See also:relief, children being deposited (jactati) in See also:marble shells at the church doors, and tended first by the matricularii or male nurses, and then by the nutricarii or See also:foster-parents.' But it was in the 7th and 8th centuries that definite institutions for foundlings were established in such towns as Treves, See also:Milan and See also:Montpellier. In the 15th See also:century Garcias, See also:archbishop of See also:Valencia, was a conspicuous figure in this charitable See also:work; but his fame is entirely eclipsed by that of St See also:Vincent de See also:Paul, who in the reign of See also:Louis XIII., with the help of the countess of See also:Joigny, Mme le Gras and other religious ladies, rescued the foundlings of See also:Paris from the horrors of a See also:primitive institution named La Couche (See also:rue St Landry), and ultimately obtained from Louis XIV. the use of the Bicetre for their See also:accommodation. Letters patent were granted to the Paris See also:hospital in 167o. The Hotel-Dieu of See also:Lyons was the next in importance. No See also:provision, however, was made outside the See also:great towns; the houses in the cities were overcrowded and administered with laxity; and in 1784 See also:Necker prophesied that the See also:state would yet be seriously embarrassed by this increasing evil.2 From 1452 to 1789 the See also:law had imposed on the seigneurs de haute See also:justice the See also:duty of succouring children found deserted on their territories. The first constitutions of the Revolution undertook as a state See also:debt the support of every foundling. For a See also:time premiums were given to the mothers of illegitimate children, the " enfants de la patrie." By the law of 12 See also:Brumaire, An II. " Toute recherche de la paternite est interdite," while by See also:art. 341 of the See also:Code See also:Napoleon, " la recherche de la maternite est admise." See also:France.—The See also:laws of France See also:relating to this See also:part of what is called L'Assistance Publique are the See also:decree of See also:January 1811, the instruction of See also:February 1823, the decree of the 5th of See also:March 1852, the law of 1 See Capitularia regum Francorum, ii. 474.

2 De l'See also:

administration See also:des finances, iii. 136; see also the See also:article " Enfant expose " in See also:Diderot's Encyclopedic, 1755, and Chamousset's Memoire politique sur See also:les enfants, 1757.the 5th of May 1869, the law of the 24th of See also:July 1889 and the law of the 27th of une 1904. These laws carry out the See also:general principles of the law of 7 Frimaire An V., which completely decentralized the system of See also:national poor relief established by the Revolution. The enfants assistes include, besides (1) orphans and (2) foundlings proper, (3) children abandoned by their parents, (4) See also:ill-treated, neglected or morally abandoned children whose parents have been deprived of their parental rights by the decision of a See also:court of justice, (5) children, under sixteen years of See also:age, of parents condemned for certain crimes, whose parental rights have been delegated by a tribunal to the state. Children classified under 1-5 are termed pupilles de l'assistance, " wards of public charity," and are distinguished by the law of 1904 from children under the See also:protection of the state, classified as: (1) enfa,'.ts secourus, i.e. children whose parents or relatives are unable, through poverty, to support them; (2) enfants en See also:depot, i.e. children of persons undergoing a judicial See also:sentence and children temporarily taken in while their parents are in hospital, and (3) enfants en garde, i.e. children who have either committed or been the victim of some See also:felony or See also:crime and are placed under state care by judicial authority. The See also:asylum which receives all these children is a departmental (etabli.ssement depositaire), and not a communal institution. The etablissement depositaire is usually the See also:ward of an See also:hospice, in which—with the exception of children en depot—the stay is of the shortest, for by the law of 1904, continuing the principle laid down in 1811, all children under thirteen years of age under the guardianship of the state, except the mentally or physically infirm, must be boarded out in See also:country districts. They are generally apprenticed to some one engaged in the agricultural See also:industry, and until See also:majority they remain under the guardianship of the administrative commissioners of the See also:department. The state pays the whole of the cost of inspection and supervision. The expenses of administration, the " See also:home " expenses, for the See also:nurse (nourrice sedentaire) or the wet nurse (nourrice au sein), the See also:prime de survie (See also:premium on survival), washing, clothes, and the " out-See also:door " expenses, which include (I) temporary assistance to unmarried mothers in See also:order to prevent See also:desertion ; (2) allowances to the foster-parents (nouirriciers) in the country for See also:board, school-See also:money, &c.; (3) clothing; (4) travelling-money for nurses and children; (5) See also:printing, &c.; (6) expenses in time of sickness and for burials and apprentice fees—are See also:borne in the proportion of two-fifths by the state two-fifths by the department, and the remaining fifth by the communes. The following figures show the number of children (exclusive of enfants secourus) relieved at various periods: See also:Year. Number relieved.

1890 . . . . 95,701 1895 121,201 1900 . . 138,308 1905 . . . . 149,8o3 The See also:

droit de recherche is conceded to the See also:parent on See also:payment of a small See also:fee. The decree of 1811 contemplated the repayment of all expenses by a parent reclaiming a See also:child. The same decree directed a tour or revolving See also:box (Drehcylinder in See also:Germany) to be kept at each hospital. These have been discontinued. The " Assistance Publique " of Paris is managed by a " directeur " appointed by the See also:minister of the interior, and associated with a representative conseil de surveillance. The Paris Hospice des Enfants-Assistes contains about 700 beds. There are also in Paris numerous private charities for the See also:adoption of poor children and orphans.

It is impossible here to give even a See also:

sketch of the See also:long and able controversies which have occurred in France on the principles of management of found-See also:ling hospitals, the advantages of See also:tours and the system of See also:admission a See also:bureau ouvert, the See also:transfer of orphans from one department to another, the See also:hygiene arid service of hospitals and the inspection of nurses, the See also:education and reclamation of the children and the rights of the state in their future. Reference may be made to the See also:works noticed at the end of this article. See also:Belgium.—In this country the arrangements for the relief of foundlings and the See also:appropriation of public funds for that purpose very much resemble those in France, and can hardly be usefully described apart from the general questions of See also:local See also:government and poor law administration. The Commissions des Hospices Civiles, however, are purely communal bodies, although they receive pecuniary assistance from both the departments and the state. A decree of 1811 directed that there should be an asylum and a See also:wheel for receiving foundlings in every See also:arrondissement. The last " wheel," that of See also:Antwerp, was closed in 186o. (See Des Institutions de bienfaisance et de prevoyance en Belgique, 185o a 186o, See also:par M. P. Lentz.) See also:Italy is very See also:rich in foundling hospitals, pure and See also:simple, orphans and other destitute children being separately provided for. (See Della atria preventiva in Italia, by Signor See also:Fano.) In See also:Rome one See also:branch of the Santo Spirito in Sassia (so called from the Schola Saxonum built in 728 by See also:King Ina in the Borgo) has, since the time of See also:Pope See also:Sixtus IV., been devoted to foundlings. The See also:average See also:annual number of foundlings supported is about 3000. (See The Charitable Institutions of Rome, by See also:Cardinal Morichini.) In See also:Venice the Casa degli Esposti or foundling hospital, founded in 1346, and receiving 450 children annually, is under provincial administration.

The splendid See also:

legacy of the last See also:doge, Ludovico See also:Manin, is applied to the support of about 160 children by the " Congregazione di Carita " acting through 30 See also:parish boards (deputazione fraternate). See also:Austria.—In Austria foundling hospitals occupied a very prominent See also:place in the general instructions which, by rescript dated 16th of See also:April 1781, the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II. issued to the charitable endowment See also:commission. In 1818 foundling asylums and lying-in houses were declared to be state institutions. They were accordingly supported by the state See also:treasury until the fundamental law of loth See also:October 186o handed them over to the provincial committees. They are now local institutions, depending on provincial funds, and are quite See also:separate from the See also:ordinary parochial poor See also:institute. Admission is gratuitous when the child is actually found on the See also:street, or is sent by a criminal court, or where the See also:mother undertakes to serve for four months as nurse or See also:midwife in an asylum, or produces a certificate from the parish See also:priest and " poor-See also:father " (the parish inspector of the poor-law administration) that she has no money. In other cases payments of 30 to See also:loo florins are made. When two months old the child is sent for six or ten years to the houses in the neighbourhood of respectable married persons, who have certificates from the See also:police or the poor-law authorities, and who are inspected by the latter and by a See also:special medical officer. These persons receive a constantly diminishing See also:allowance, and the arrangement may be determined by 14 days' See also:notice on either See also:side. The foster-parents may retain the child in their service or employment till the age of twenty-two, but the true parents may at any time reclaim the foundling on reimbursing the asylum and compensating the foster-parents. See also:Russia.—Under the old See also:Russian system of See also:Peter I. foundlings were received at the church windows by a See also:staff of See also:women paid by the state. But since the reign of See also:Catherine II. the foundling hospitals have been in the hands of the provincial officer of public charity (prykaz obshestvennago pryzrenya).

The great central institutions (Vospitatelnoi Dom), at See also:

Moscow and St See also:Petersburg (with a branch at See also:Gatchina), were founded by Catherine. When a child is brought the baptismal name is asked, and a See also:receipt is given, by which the child may be reclaimed up to the age of ten. The mother may nurse her child. After the usual See also:period of six years in the country very great care is taken with the education, especially of the more promising children. The hospital is a valuable source of recruits for the public service. See also:Malthus (The Principles of See also:Population, vol. i. p. 434) has made a violent attack on these Russian charities. He argues that they discourage See also:marriage and therefore population, and that the best management is unable to prevent a high mortality. He adds: " An occasional child See also:murder from false shame is saved at a very high See also:price if it can be done only by the See also:sacrifice of some of the best and most useful feelings of the human See also:heart in a great part of the nation." It does not appear, however, that the See also:rate of See also:illegitimacy in Russia is comparatively high; it is so in the two great cities. The rights of parents over the children were very much restricted, and those of the government much extended by a ukase issued by the emperor See also:Nicholas in 1837. The most eminent Russian writer on this subject is M. Gourov.

See his Recherches sur les enfants trouves, and Essai sur l'histoire des enfants trouves (Paris, 182I9 See also:

America, foundling hospitals, which are chiefly private charities, exist in most of the large cities. Great See also:Britain.—The Foundling Hospital of See also:London was incorporated by royal See also:charter in 1739 " for the See also:maintenance and education of exposed and deserted See also:young children." The See also:petition of See also:Captain See also:Thomas See also:Coram, who is entitled to the whole See also:credit of the See also:foundation,' states as its See also:objects " to prevent the frequent murders of poor miserable children at their See also:birth, and to suppress the inhuman See also:custom of exposing new-See also:born infants to perish in the streets." At first no questions were asked about child or parent, but a distinguishing See also:mark was put on each phild by the parent. These were often marked coins, trinkets, pieces of See also:cotton or ribbon, verses written on scraps of See also:paper. The clothes, if any, were carefully recorded. One entry is, " Paper on the See also:breast, clout on the See also:head. ' The applications became too numerous, and a system of balloting with red, See also:white and See also:black balls was adopted. In 1756 the See also:House of See also:Commons came to a See also:resolution that all children offered should be received, that local receiving places should be appointed all over the country, and that the funds should be publicly guaranteed. A See also:basket was accordingly hung outside the hospital; the maximum age for admission was raised from two to twelve months, and a See also:flood of children poured in from the country workhouses. In less than four years 14,934 children were presented, and a vile See also:trade See also:grew up among vagrants of undertaking to carry children from the country to the hospital,—an undertaking which, like the See also:French meneurs, they often did not perform or performed with great See also:cruelty. Of these 15,000 only 4400 lived to be apprenticed out. The See also:total expense was about £500,000. This alarmed the House of Commons.

After throwing out a See also:

bill which proposed to raise the necessary funds by fees from a general system of parochial See also:registration, they came to the conclusion that the indiscriminate admission should be discontinued. The hospital, being thus thrown on its own resources, adopted a pernicious system of receiving children with considerable ' See also:Addison had suggested such a charity (See also:Guardian, No. 3). sums (e.g. boo), which sometimes ted to the children being re-claimed by the parent. This was finally stopped in 1801 ; and it is now a fundamental See also:rule that no money is received. The See also:committee of inquiry must now be satisfied of the previous See also:good See also:character and See also:present See also:necessity of the mother, and that the father of the child has deserted it and the mother, and that the reception of the child will probably replace the mother in the course of virtue and in the way of an honest livelihood. All the children at the Foundling hospital are those of unmarried women, and they are all first child:en of their mothers. The principle is in fact that laid down by See also:Fielding in Tom Jones—" Too true I am afraid it is that many women have become abandoned and have sunk to the last degree of See also:vice by being unable to retrieve the first slip." At present the hospital supports about Soo children up to the age of fifteen. The average annual number of applications is over 200, and of admissions between 40 and 5o. "1 he children used to be named after the patrons and See also:governors, but the treasurer now prepares a See also:list. Children are seldom taken after they are twelve months old. On reception they are sent down to the country, where they stay until they are about four or five years old.

At sixteen the girls are generally apprenticed as servants for four years, and the boys at the age of fourteen as See also:

mechanics for seven years. There is a small benevolent fund for adults. The musical service, which was origin-ally sung by the See also:blind children only, was made fashionable by the generosity of See also:Handel, who frequently had the " See also:Messiah " per-formed there, and who bequeathed to the hospital a MS. copy (full See also:score) of his greatest See also:oratorio. The See also:altar-piece is See also:West's picture of See also:Christ presenting a little Child. In 1774 Dr See also:Burney and Signor Giardini made an unsuccessful See also:attempt to See also:form in connexion with the hospital a public See also:music school, in See also:imitation of the Conservatorium of the See also:Continent. In 1847, however, a successful " Juvenile See also:Band " was started. The educational effects of music have been found excellent, and the hospital supplies many musicians to the best See also:army and See also:navy bands. The early connexion between the hospital and the eminent painters of the reign of See also:George II. is one of extreme See also:interest. The exhibitions of pictures at the Foundling, which were organized by the Dilettanti See also:Club, undoubtedly led to the formation of the Royal See also:Academy in 1768. See also:Hogarth painted a portrait of Captain Coram for the hospital, which also contains his March to See also:Finchley, and Roubillac's bust of Handel. (See History and Objects o the Foundling Hospital, with Memoir of its Founder, by J. Brownlow.) In 1704 the Foundling hospital of See also:Dublin was opened.

No inquiry was made about the parents, and no money received. From 1500 to 2000 children were received annually. A large income was derived from a duty on See also:

coal and the produce of See also:car licences. In 1822 an admission fee of £5 was charged on the parish from which the child came. This reduced the annual arrivals to about Soo. In 1829 the select committee on the Irish See also:miscellaneous estimates recommended that no further assistance should be given. The hospital had not preserved See also:life or educated the foundlings. The mortality was nearly 4 in 5, and the total cost £Io,000 a year. Accordingly in 1835 See also:Lord See also:Glenelg (then Irish Secretary) closed the institution. See also:Scotland never seems to have possessed a foundling hospital. In 1759 See also:John See also:Watson left funds which were to be applied to the pious and charitable purpose " of preventing child murder " by the See also:establishment of a hospital for receiving pregnant women and taking care of their children as foundlings. But by an See also:act of See also:parliament in 1822, which sets forth " doubts as to the propriety " of the See also:original purpose, the money was given to trustees to erect a hospital for the maintenance and education of destitute children.

End of Article: FOUNDLING HOSPITALS

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FOUNDING (from Lat. fundere, to pour) 		[next]
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