lief. After 1840 the
provident dispensary was introduced, in order that the patients by small
contributions in the time of health might provide for illness without
having to meet large doctors' bills, and the doctor might receive some
sufficient remuneration for his attendance on poor patients. This
movement was largely extended after 1860. Three hospital funds for
collecting contributions for hospitals and making them grants, a
movement that originated in Birmingham in 1859, were established in
London in 1873 and 1897.

Since 1868 the poor-law medical system of Great Britain has been
immensely improved and extended, while at the same time the number of
persons in receipt of free medical relief in most of the large towns
has greatly increased. The following figures refer to London: at
hospitals, 97 in number, in-patients (1904) during the year, 118,536;
out-patients and casualty cases, 1,858,800; patients at free,
part-pay, or provident dispensaries, about 280,000; orders issued for
attendance at poor-law dispensaries and at home, 114,158. The number
of beds in poor-law infirmaries (1904) was 16,976. There are in London
12 general hospitals with, 18 without, medical schools, and 67
special hospitals. Thus the population in receipt of public and
voluntary medical relief is very large, indeed altogether excessive.

Each religious movement has brought with it its several charities. The
Society of Friends, the Wesleyans, the Baptists have large charities.
With the extension of the High Church movement there have been
established many sisterhoods which support penitentiaries, convalescent
homes and hospitals, schools, missions, &c.

The magnitude of this accumulating provision of charitable relief is
evident, though it cannot be summed up in any single total.

At the beginning of the 19th century anti-mendicity societies were
established; and later, about 1869, in England and Scotland a movement
began for the organization of charitable relief, in connexion with which
there are now societies and committees in most of the larger towns in
Great Britain, in the colonies, and in the United States of America.
More recently the movement for the establishment of settlements in poor
districts, initiated by Canon Barnett at Toynbee Hall--"to educate
citizens in the knowledge of one another, and to provide them with
teaching and recreation"--has spread to many towns in England and
America.

Progress of