tel Dieu; and yet, let us repeat
it, years passed away, and nothing was altered in the organization of
the great hospital! Why persist in remaining in a condition that so
openly wounds humanity? Must we, together with Cabanis, who also abused
the old Hotel Dieu severely, "must we exclaim, that abuses known by all
the world, against which every voice is raised, have secret supporters
who know how to defend them, in a manner to tire out well-meaning
people? Must we speak of false characters, perverse hearts, that seemed
to regard errors and abuses as their patrimony?" Let us dare to
acknowledge it, Gentlemen, evil is generally perpetrated in a less
wicked manner: it is done without the intervention of any strong
passion; by vulgar, yet all-powerful routine, and ignorance. I observe
the same thought, though couched in the calm and cleverly circumspect
language of Bailly: "The Hotel Dieu has existed perhaps since the
seventh century, and if this hospital is the most imperfect of all, it
is because it is the oldest. From the earliest date of this
establishment, good has been sought, the desire has been to adhere to
it, and constancy has appeared a duty. From this cause, all useful
novelties have with difficulty found admission; any reform is difficult;
there is a numerous administration to convince; there is an immense mass
to move."

The immensity of the mass, however, did not discourage the old
Commissioners of the Academy. Let this conduct serve as an example to
learned men, to administrators, who might be called upon to cast an
investigating eye on the whole of our beneficent and humane
establishments. Undoubtedly, the abuses, if any yet exist, have not
individually any thing to be compared to those to which Bailly's report
did justice; but would it be impossible for them to have sprung up
afresh in the course of half a century, and that in proportion to their
multiplicity, they should still make enormous and deplorable breaches in
the patrimony of the poor?

I shall modify very slightly, Gentlemen, the concluding words of our
illustrious colleague's report, and I shall not in the least alter their
innate meaning, if I say, in finishing this long analysis: "Each poor
man is now laid alone in a bed, and he owes it principally to the
gifted, persevering, and courageous efforts of the Academy of Sciences.
The poor man ought to know it, and the poor man will not forget it."
Happy, Gentlemen, happy the academy that can ador