The civil hospitals in Paris now form two distinct classes. The one
comprehends the hospitals for the sick: the other, those for the
indigent. The former are devoted to the relief of suffering human
nature; the latter serve as an asylum to children, to the infirm, and
to the aged indigent. All persons who are not ill enough to be
admitted of necessity into the hospital the nearest to their
residence, are obliged to present themselves to the _Bureau Central
d'Admissions_. Here they are examined, and if there be occasion, they
receive a ticket of admission for the hospital where their particular
disorder is treated. At the head of the hospitals for the sick stands
that so long known by the appellation of the