_Rue de Lecat, at the extremity of the rue de Crosne._
The establishment of vast hospitals is very ancient in Rouen. The one of
which I am speaking was formerly situated near the cathedral, between
the _Calende square_ and the _rue de la Madeleine_. The house which is
opposite the southern porch of Notre-Dame, is a part of the remains of
that hospital. In 1758, it was transferred to the new building, which
had been erected in 1749, on the place called _the Lieu-de-Sante_, other
buildings having been afterwards added.
The Hotel-Dieu is exclusively reserved for the reception of the
inhabitants of the town, excepting cases of urgency, which after having
been treated during six months, are dismissed as incurable, and are
admitted into the Hospice-General, if they have dwelt during ten years
in the town. More than four thousand persons are admitted into this
hospital annually. About two thirds of the sick are under the care of
the physicians, the remainder under that of the surgeons of the
establishment. Different rooms are reserved for different maladies. One
of these is alloted to soldiers; another, which is known under the name
of _Gesine_, is reserved for lying in women. There is also a separate
room for Children under five years of age, and several rooms for
boarders.
There are in all fifteen rooms, containing together more than six
hundred beds, the half of which are of iron.
The medical practice is divided into two distincts parts; that of
physicians, that of surgeons. Their visits are made regularly twice in
the day.
The Hotel-Dieu, is at the western extremity of the _rue de
Crosne-hors-Ville_, which is planted with trees, and offers a fine
avenue. The buildings which form the hospital (properly so called), are
those which are situated opposite the entrance gate which gives
admittance to the vast court of the hospital.
The two hospitals are under the same superintendance which is renewed by
one fifth, every year. This commission acquires each day a greater right
to public gratitude and especially to that of the poor.