understood only when we
come to realize that there was a corresponding development in hospital
organization. These two features of medicine always go hand in hand.
The hospitals, as might be expected, preceded the surgical
development, and owed their great progress at this time mainly to the
Popes.

The city hospital as we have it at the present time, that is, the
public institution meant for the reception of those suffering from
accidents, from acute diseases of various kinds, and also for
providing shelter for those {249} who have become ill and have no
friends to take care of them, is an establishment dating from the
beginning of the thirteenth century. It will doubtless be a surprise
to most people to be told that the modern world owes this beneficent
institution to the fatherly watchfulness, the kindly foresight, and
the very practical charity of one of the greatest of the Popes, whose
name is usually associated with ambitious schemes for making the
Papacy a great political power in Europe, rather than as the prime
mover in what was probably the most far-reaching good work of supreme
social significance that was ever accomplished.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, mainly as the result of
those much abused sources of many benefits to mankind in the Middle
Ages, the Crusades, the people of Europe had begun to dwell together
in towns much more than before. It is closeness of population that
gives rise to the social needs. While people were scattered throughout
the country diseases were not so prevalent, epidemics were not likely
to spread, and the charitable spirit of the rural people themselves
was quite sufficient to enable them to care for the few ailing persons
to be found. With the advent of even small city life, however, came
the demand for hospitals in the true sense of the word, and this need
did not long escape the watchful eye of Innocent III. He recognized
the necessity for a city hospital in Rome, and in accordance with his
very practical character and wonderful activity, at once set about its
foundation.

As was to be expected from his wise foresight, he did not do so
without due consideration. He consulted many visitors to Rome and many
distinguished medical authorities as to what they considered to be the
best conducted {250} and most ably managed institution for the care of
the sick in Europe at that time. Almost by common consent he was
assured that the most successful hospital manageme