Some suppose that foundling hospitals, or institu- tions of a similar character, were, at a very early pe- riod, established at or near the columna lactaria at Kome and the cynosarrjes at Athens, mentioned above as i)laces of exposure. The Justinian Codes, by the term hnphotrophium Q3pt<}>oTpo(puuv), mentioned in connection with, but as distinct from, other institu- tions (for the relief of strangers, the poor, orphans, etc.), appear to refer to hospitals for foundlings. An establishment of the kind is said to have been founded at Treves in the Gth or 7th century. The Capitularies of Charlemagne employ the Justinian term hreplwtro- 2ihia apparently with reference to foundling hospitals, though the Franks at that time regarded foundlings as tile property of those who should receive and educate them. The earliest foundling hospital concerning which we have any authentic information was that founded at Milan, A.D. 787, bj' Datheus, a priest, be- cause of the prevalence of infanticide. If the child had not been baptized, salt was strewed between its swaddling-clothes before bringing it to the hospital to denote that fact. The children were suckled bj' hired nurses, supplied with necessaries, taught some handi- craft, and at seven years of age discharged as free- born. In 1070 Oliver de la Trau founded at Montpel- lier the order of the Ilospitalarii Sanct'i Spiritus, one of whose vows was to provide for the maintenance and education of foundlings. Since that time hospitals for foundlings have been gradually established in most European, and Spanish, and Portuguese- American .states, to the most important of which onlj' we have space to refer. Attached to the hospital of the Spirlto iSanto in Kome is one for foundlings, with accommo- dations for 30(10 children ; the number annual!}' re- ceived is al)out 8(J0, some of whom are sent to the country to be nursed; the mortality in the hospital was (1>!51)) 57 per cent., and still greater in the coun- tr}'. The jSpedale dcgl Innocenii at Florence was found- ed in 1316 ; here special means are taken to identifv each child by securely fastening a leaden badge, stamped with a certain number, around the neck. The use of tokens of some sort, attached to the person or clothing of th(^ child, for tlie purpose of identilieation, is not uncommon in the historj' of other hospitals. There are many other foundling hospitals in Italy to provide for tlie numerous foundlings, for whom it is stated that Naples makes the best provision (1859). The Ilnspice dex Enfans Trouvfs at I'aris was founded in 1010 by Vincent de Paul. In this, as well as many others in France, in order to secure secrecy in deposit- ing the child, a turning-box (/our) is provided, in uhich the child is placed, and a bell rung for its re-
moval without the person who brought it being seen. A decree in 1811 ordered that sucli boxes should be provided for all the French foundling hospitals, but, owing to a conviction that the great increase in the number of foundlings since that time was due largely to the lours, they were retained in 185G in onh' G5 of the 141 hospitals then existing in France. In 185G the number of foundlings in France was estimated at 120,000 under 12 years of age, when the administrative control ceases; and G0,000 to 70,000 between the ai.es of 12 and 21. The proportion of foundlings to pojiuk- tion was 1 to 353 ; to births, 1 to 39 ; the annual num- ber, 25,000 to 30,000, of whom nine tenths were illegit- imate. The average life of the foundlings was onh- 4 years ; the mortality 52 per cent, the fir^t year, and 78 per cent, up to 12 years ; while tiie general average for the community was only 50 per cent, up to 21 years. The male foundlings constituted 13 per cent, of the convicts and prisoners, and the female one fifth of the prostitutes in that countrj-. Foundling hospitals are numerous in Belgium, where the number of abandoned children was estimated in 1859 to be 1 to 18 births. In 182G there were onlj' two foundling hospitals in Holland ; that of Amsterdam receives about 3000 chil- dren annuallj-. There is a well-managed one in Vi- enna, founded in 1784 by Joseph II, and others in the chief cities of the Austrian empire, but the system of maintaining such institutions is said to be no longer regarded with favor in Germany. In Spain the num- ber may be reckoned at GO to 70, with some 13,000 foundlings, with larger proportional numbers for Port- ugal. The great hospitals of Moscow and St. Peters- burg are said to be well managed under strict govern- mental supervision, to Avhich annuallj' great numbers of children are sent from various parts of the Russian empire, very many of which die on the way. The children are, it is said, carefulh' educated, those of su- perior promise specialh' so ; and many of them become useful, the females as governesses, teachers, etc., and the males as engineers and mechanics. Recruits for the army and navy are also supplied from these hospi- tals. Foundling hospitals are numerous in Sweden, where the average of illegitimate births is said to be large, 1 to 11 in the country, and 1 to 2 in Stockholm. Norway has fewer, and also a less proportion of ille- gitimate children. The foundling hospital in L(;2idon was established in 1739 through the efi'orts of captain Thomas Coram, but not opened fully until 1750, from which time to 1760, 4 years, 14,934 children were re- ceived into it, but only 4400 lived to be apprenticed, or 30 per cent. In view of this frightful UK/rtality, and the abuses in the matter of admission, and the difficul- ty of correcting them or adequately providing against their recurrence. Parliament withdrew its grant of pub- lie fuiuls, and the institution "ceased to be a receptacle for foundlings," and was made a hospital for poor ille- gitimate children whose mothers are known, and chil- dren of soldiers and sailors killed in the service of their country. One was also established in Dublin in 1730, in which the mortality is said to have been even greater than in London. The average j'early admis- sions from 1805-1825 were about 2000. A foundling hospital has been established in Canton, but had not, up to 1859, much influence in preventing infanticide. Tiie most important ones in America are those in the cit}' of Jlexico and Rio Janeiro. There are no found- ling hospitals in the United States where provision is made, for foundlings in common with other objects of jniblic or private charity, and the number of such chil- dren is comparatively small. AVhethcr such institu- tions may or may not have proved lieneficent under the conditions of ancient or niediivval society, we can- not at this day determine, l)ut the trial of them as parts of the systems' of the charitable and ]ihilanthropic agencies of modern times, cither as controlled and sup- ]iorted in whole or part by the state, or as left to the care and direction of private benevolence, presents re-