Imatges de pàgina
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central department of the institution there are sub-divisions of the greatest importance, for a more particular account of which I have no room, neither is this a fit opportunity to enter upon them.

The funds of this vast establishment which I have thus slightly touched upon, are derived from a variety of sources; but the principal one is the Voluntary Loan Bank, or Lombard, which produces an immense income, as will be seen hereafter.

There is a second Lying-in Institution in St. Petersburgh, supported entirely by the Empress-mother, containing about thirty beds, which, both with regard to the building, furniture, cleanliness, internal arrangement, the handsome curtained beds, the attendance of a nurse to each patient, the excellence of the diet, and the care taken of the child, may be better compared to the lying-in chamber of a great lady, than to an hospital. This institution is strictly intended for married women, who must certify that they are so, and in indifferent circumstances. Dr. Southoff was obliging enough to introduce and show me this noble establishment, in all its parts. I observed about twenty young females, who reside in the house and act as nurses, while they receive instruction in midwifery. It is a curious fact, highly creditable to the married women of the inferior classes at St. Petersburgh, that with all the luxuries of such an institution freely open to them, not more than from 500 to 600 patients apply for admission in the course of the twelve months. I speak without in the least wishing to exaggerate, when I assert, that it would be impossible to find a parallel establishment with this anywhere. I am almost inclined to think that too much has been done for it. What a sad contrast it must be to the really poor married woman, who has been lying-in in such a palace, with such an attendance, and in such linen, to return to her abject fireside!

But I feel that I am trespassing too far on the patience of my general readers, and forget the declaration with which I set out at the beginning of the present chapter. I meant to have said a word or two on the present state of vaccination in St. Petersburgh-on the recent and flourishing establishment for the treatment of diseases of the eyes, a class of complaints exceedingly prevalent in St. Petersburgh-on the manufacturing of surgical instruments for the army and navy by an Englishman, of the name of Brown, whose manufactory, on a large scale, I visited, and examined with great attention, although not with an unmixed degree of satisfaction. But I must abandon the idea altogether, and proceed to other matters, unless I mean to add a third volume, " quod Jupiter advertat." At the same time I am bound to declare, that the Infirmary for the Diseases of the Eyes deserves more than a mere superficial mention of its name. This institution owes its origin, I have reason to believe, to the suggestion of some young Russian surgeons, whom I have already named, and who studied for some time in this country, at the expense of the late Emperor. It has been opened about three years, and was supported from its very outset by the whole of the Imperial Family. The Empress-mother, again foremost in every act of charity, ordered an annual sum from her privy purse of 5000 roubles, to be paid in aid of its funds, and another amiable princess, the Grand-duchess Helena, with corresponding liberality, assigned 500 roubles a year to it. In a very few months the donations amounted to 20,000 roubles, and the income to 5000. The progressive increase of its operations and income, during the short space of time that has elapsed since its origin, is quite extraordinary in the annals of medical charities, and speaks volumes in favour of the philanthropic spirit of its supporters. In the second year of its existence, from May 1825 to the same month in 1826, the received income

amounted to 48,734 roubles, and the expenditure to 8282 roubles. The number of patients treated was 11,783, of whom 3853 were new, and 273 were admitted as inpatients. The number of important operations, performed during that period, was 464. The Emperor, after this, granted a sum of 40,000 roubles from the surplus of the subscriptions, in behalf of those who had suffered during the inundation; and the total income, from May 1826 to the same month of the year following, was increased to 169,422 roubles, which enabled the directors to purchase the present house, on a much larger scale, and furnish it for the sum of 134,277 roubles. In that same year they treated 15,079 patients, 4794 of whom were new, 340 were lodged and boarded in the house, and 445 important operations were performed.

As for the subject of vaccination in the Russian capital, it is one into which I could not but feel anxious to inquire during my stay in that city, from the circumstance of being myself connected with an important institution in London, in which that practice forms a prominent feature. I was therefore delighted to find that vaccination, under the auspices of the Imperial Economical Society, is making rapid progress in that city, and, through the exertions of the same society, in other parts of the empire. From the time that the society first undertook the superintendence of that practice down to October 1827, 1,009,276 children had been vaccinated through their means. Emperor, as an encouragement and mark of approbation of their proceedings, was pleased to grant them the sum of 25,000 roubles, in aid of the funds formed by subscription for that particular object, and ordered that gold and silver medals should be struck and distributed, as well as pecuniary rewards, to those persons who may appear to have exerted themselves most in propagating the application of that valuable discovery in his dominions.

The

CHAPTER XII.

PICTURE OF ST. PETERSBURGH.

Commercial and other Establishments of Industry and their Buildings. The Imperial EXCHANGE. - The Rostral Columns. The first Foreign Ship at St. Petersburgh. Peter the Great and the Dutch Skipper. Inauguration of the New Exchange.- Affability and Condescension of Alexander the First towards the English Merchants. New Imperial Warehouses. — CUSTOM HOUSE.Navigation of Merchant Vessels up the Neva.- Number of Vessels entered at St. Petersburgh in 1827. - Amount of Tonnage for that Year. Lists of Imports and Exports for the last ten years. Balance of Export Trade in favour of Russia. — General value of Corn exported in 1826 and 1827. Custom-house Revenue, during the last six years. Steady increase of it every year. · Number of Vessels entered and cleared, classed according to Nations. -Decrease in those belonging to England. Mercantile Spirit and Industry of the Russians. — Interior Navigation. - Canal between St. Petersburgh and Moscow. — A Curious Discovery. Great and the noted financier, Law.

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Imperial Manufactories.

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- Peter the

· Proposed Asiatic Trade PLATE GLASS ZAVOD.

Colossal Mirror for the Duke of Wellington.-Crystal Bed for the Shah of Persia. FARFOROVOÏ ZAVOD, or China and Porcelain Manufactory. ALEXANDROWSKY. - General Wilson. — English and American Machinery imitated in Russia.-Cotton Manufactory. Profit from the Manufactory of Playing-cards. — Discipline and treatment of the Foundlings employed at Alexandrowsky. — The KOLPINSKO ZAVOD. Coins. Paper Currency. Mons. CANCRIN's opinions on that subject. Amount of Bank Notes in Russia. The ASSIGNATSIONNOÏ BANK. Revenue of Russia.National Debt. Amount of Annual Redemption. The LOAN BANK. - The COMMERCIAL BANK.—The LOMBARD.

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THAT Russia is a great commercial nation, requires no demonstration. That St. Petersburgh has become what

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THE NEW EXCHANGE AND ONE OF THE ROSTRAL COLUMNS AT ST. PETERSBURGH.

London: Published by Henry Colburn, August 1, 1828.

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