[1] _Traditions about Hosea._--Beeri, the prophet's father, is
identified by the Rabbins with Beerah (1 Chron. v. 6), a Reubenite
prince carried captive by Tiglath-Pileser. This view is already
expressed by Jerome, _Quaest. in Paralip._, and doubtless underlies
the statement of the Targum to Chronicles that Beerah was a prophet.
For it is a Jewish maxim that when a prophet's father is named, he,
too, was a prophet, and accordingly a tradition of R. Simon makes
Isa. viii. 19, 20 a prophecy of Beeri (Kimchi in loc.; _Leviticus
Rabba_, par. 15). According to the usual Christian tradition,
however, Hosea was of the tribe of Issachar, and from an unknown
town, Belemoth or Belemon (pseudo-Epiphanius, pseudo-Dorotheus,
Ephraem Syr. ii. 234; _Chron. Pasch._, Bonn ed., i. 276). As the
tradition adds that he died there, and was buried in peace, the
source of the story lies probably in some holy place shown as his
grave. There are other traditions as to the burial-place of Hosea. A
Jewish legend in the _Shalshelet haqqabala_ (Carpzov, _Introd._, pt.
iii. ch. vii. S 3) tells that he died in captivity at Babylon, and
was carried to Upper Galilee, and buried at [Hebrew: Zefat], that is,
Safed (Neubauer, Geog. _du Talmud_, p. 227); and the Arabs show the
grave of Nebi 'Osha, east of the Jordan, near Es-Salt (Baedeker's
_Palestine_, p. 337; Burckhardt's _Syria_, p. 353).
[2] The supposed reference of viii. 9-10 to the tribute paid by
Menahem to Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings xv. 19), and dated, on the
monuments, 738 B.C., depends on a corrupt text: read v. 10 with
Septuagint.
[3] Some scholars hold that his attack is directed against the very
principle of monarchy (Nowack, p. 8; Smend, p. 209: "Hosea rejects
the kingship in itself"; Wellhausen, p. 125: "The making of kings in
Israel is for him, together with the heathen cultus, the fundamental
evil"). This view depends on a disputed interpretation of the
reference to Gibeah (x. 9; cf. ix. 9); and on the words: "I give thee
kings in mine anger, and I take them away in my wrath" (xiii. 11),
which may refer to the rise and fall of contemporary kings (cf.
Marti, ad loc). In any case, as Wellhausen himself says (p. 132): "He
does not start from a dogmatic theory, but simply from historical
experience."
[4] Theodorus Mops. remarks very justly, [Greek: kai to onoma kai ton
patera legei, os me plasma psilon ti dokoie to legomenon, historia de
alethes ton pragmaton.]
[5] This explanation of the narrative, which is essentially Ewald's,
is now generally accepted. It has the great advantage of supplying a
psychological key to the conception of Israel or the land of Israel
(i. 2) as the spouse of Yahweh, which dominates these chapters, but
in the later part of the book gives way to the personification of the
nation as God's son. This conception has, indeed, formal points of
contact with notions previously current, and even with the ideas of
Semitic heathenism. On the one hand, it is a standing Hebrew usage to
represent the land as mother of its people, while the representation
of worshippers as children of their god is found in Num. xxi. 29,
where the Moabites are called children of Chemosh, and is early and
widespread throughout the Semitic field (cf. _Trans. Bib. Arch._ vi.
438; _Jour. of Phil._ ix. 82). The combination of these two notions
gives at once the conception of the national deity as husband of the
land. On the other hand, the designation of Yahweh as Baal, which, in
accordance with the antique view of marriage, means husband as well
as lord and owner, was current among the Israelites in early times,
perhaps, indeed, down to Hosea's age (ii. 16). Now it is highly
probable that among the idolatrous Israelites the idea of a marriage
between the deity and individual worshippers was actually current and
connected with the immorality which Hosea often condemns in the
worship of the local Baalim whom the ignorant people identified with
Yahweh. For we have a Punic woman's name, [Hebrew: areshetbaal], "the
betrothed of Baal" (Euting, Punische Steine, pp. 9, 15), and a
similar conception existed among the Babylonians (Herod. i. 181,
182). But Hosea takes the idea of Yahweh as husband, and gives it an
altogether different turn, filling it with a new and profound
meaning, based on the psychical experiences of a deep human affection
in contest with outraged honour and the wilful self-degradation of a
spouse. It can hardly be supposed that all that lies in these
chapters is an abstract study in the psychology of the emotions. It
is actual human experience that gives Hosea the key to divine truth.
[6] Davidson (_D.B._ ii. 422) remarks that "it was not his
misfortunes that gave Hosea his prophetic word. Israel's apostasy was
plain to him, and he foreshadowed her doom in Jezreel, the name of
his first child, before any misfortunes overtook him. At most, his
misfortunes may at a later time have given a complexion to his
prophetic thoughts." Wellhausen (p. 108) objects to the emergence of
the call from the experience, on the ground that the name given to
the first child gives no indication that Hosea had yet reached his
specific message, the infidelity of his wife and of Israel, though it
shows him already as a prophet. Marti (p. 15) agrees with Davidson in
making the order (a) call, (b) marriage and birth of three children,
(c) comprehension of the significance of the marriage for himself and
for Israel. The statement made above must be interpreted of Hosea's
_specific_ message from Yahweh, as recorded in his book.
[7] Marti disregards this generally accepted division, arguing that
(a) i.-iii. was not written earlier than iv.-xiv., (b) iii. is not
Hoseanic, (c) ii. is much more akin to iv.-xiv. than to i.-iii.
(_Comm._ p. 1; cf. _Enc. Bib._ 2123 n.^3). He holds that another
wife, not Gomer, is intended in iii., which is an allegory referring
to Israel, as Gomer referred to Judah. His arguments are not
convincing.
[8] So, practically, Davidson, _D.B._ ii. p. 423 seq., where the
detailed references will be found.
[9] This is too definite for the data; cf. Davidson, _l.c._ "Hosea
has no clear idea of the instrument or means of Israel's destruction.
It is 'the sword' (vii. 16, xi. 6), the 'enemy' (viii. 3, v. 8-9); or
it is natural, internal decay (vii. 8-9, ix. 16), the moth and
rottenness (v. 12)."
[10] e.g. i. 10-ii. 1, ii. 14 f., iii. 5, v. 15-vi. 3, xi. 10-11.
[11] Apart from glosses and minor alterations, the only other
critical problem of importance is that of the references to _Judah_
scattered throughout the book (i. 7, iv. 15, v. 5, v. 10 f., vi. 4,
11, viii. 14, x. 11, xi. 12). There is no inherent improbability in
some mention of the sister kingdom; but some of the actual references
do suggest interpolation, especially i. 7, where the deliverance of
Judah from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. seems intended. Each case, as
Wellhausen implies, is to be considered on its merits. On these and
other suspected passages, cf. Cheyne, Intro. to W. R. Smith's
_Prophets of Israel_, pp. xvii.-xxii.; Marti, p. 8; Harper, p. clix.
[12] Driver, _Deuteronomy_, p. xxvii.
HOSE-PIPE, or simply "hose," the name given to flexible piping by means
of which water may be conveyed from one place to another. One end of the
pipe is connected to the source of the water, while the other end is
free, so that the direction of the stream of water which issues from the
pipe may be changed at will. The method of manufacture and the strength
of the materials used depend naturally upon the particular use to which
the finished article is to be put. Simple garden hose is often made of
india-rubber or composition, but the hose intended for fire brigade and
similar important purposes must be of a much more substantial material.
The most satisfactory material is the best long flax, although cotton is
also extensively used for many types of this fabric.
The flax fibre, after having been carefully spun into yarn, is boiled
twice and then beetled; these two processes remove all injurious matter,
and make the yarn soft and lustrous. The yarn is then wound on to large
bobbins, and made into a chain; the number of threads in the chain
depends upon the size of the hose, which may be anything from half an
inch to 15 in. or even more in diameter. When the chain is warped, it is
beamed upon the weaver's beam, and the ends--either double or
triple--are drawn through the leaves of the cambs of heddles, passed
through the reed and finally tied to the cloth beam. The preparation of
the warp for any kind of loom varies very little, but the weaving may
vary greatly. In all cases the hose fabric is essentially circular,
although it appears quite flat during the weaving operation.
There are very few hand-made fabrics which can compete with the
machine-made article, but the very best type of hose-pipe is certainly
one of the former class. The cloth can be made much more cheaply in the
power-loom than in the hand-loom, but, up to the present, no power-loom
has been made which can weave as substantial a cloth as the hand-loom
product; the weak part in all hose-pipes is where the weft passes round
the sides from top to bottom of the fabric or vice versa, that is, the
side corresponding to the selvages in an ordinary cloth; the hand-loom
weaver can draw the weft tighter than is possible in the power-loom,
hence the threads at the sides can be brought close together, and by
this means the fabric is made almost, but not quite, as perfect here as
in other parts. It is essential that the warp threads be held tightly in
the loom, and to secure this, they pass alternately over and under three
or four back rests before reaching the heddles or cambs, which are
almost invariably made of wire. Although the warp yarn is made very soft
and pliable by boiling and beetling, the weaver always tallows it in
order to make it work more easily.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The commonest type of hose-pipe is made on the double-plain principle
of weaving, the cloth being perfectly plain but woven in such a manner
that the pipe is without seams of any kind. Fig. 1 is a design showing
two repeats or eight shots in the way of the weft, and six repeats or
twenty-four-threads in the way of the warp, consequently the weave is
complete on four threads, or leaves, and four picks. Fig. 2
illustrates the method of interlacing the threads and the picks: this
figure shows that twenty-three threads only are used, the first
thread--shown shaded in fig. 1--having been left out. It is necessary
to use a number of threads which is either one less or one more than
some multiple of four--the number of threads in the unit weave. The
sectional view (fig. 2), although indicating the crossings of the warp
and the weft, is quite different from an actual section through the
threads: the warp is almost invariably two or three ply, and in
addition two or more of these twisted threads pass through the same
heddle-eye in the camb; moreover, they are set very closely
together--so closely, indeed, that the threads entirely conceal the
weft; it is, therefore, impossible to give a correct sectional view
with satisfactory clearness, as the threads are so very rank, but fig.
3 gives some idea of the structure of the fabric. This view shows
ninety-nine threads and one complete round of weft; this round is, of
course, equal to two picks or shots--one pick for the top part of the
cloth and one for the bottom part. A comparison of this figure with
fig. 2 will, perhaps, make the description clearer. The weft in fig. 3
is thinner than the warp, but, in practice, it is always much thicker,
and may consist of from two to seventy threads twisted together.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Section through the Warp.]
Hose-pipes are also woven with the three-leaf twill on both sides, and
occasionally with the four-leaf twill. These pipes, woven with the
twill weaves, are usually lined with a pure rubber tube which is fixed
to the inside of the cloth by another layer of rubber after the cloth
leaves the loom. Such pipes have usually, but not invariably, a
smoother inner surface than those which are unlined, hence, when they
are used, less friction is presented to the flow of water, and there
is less tendency for the pipe to leak. They are, therefore, suitable
for hotels, public buildings and similar places where their temporary
use will not result in undue damage to articles of furniture, carpets
and general decoration.
The greatest care must be observed in the weaving of these fabrics,
the slightest flaw in the structure rendering the article practically
useless. After the cloth has been woven, it is carefully examined, and
then steeped in a chemical solution which acts as an antiseptic. The
cloth is thus effectively preserved from mildew, and is, in addition,
made more pliable. Finally the hose-pipe is dried artificially, and
then fitted with the necessary couplings and nozzles.
For a more detailed description of circular weaving see Woodhouse and
Milne, _Textile Design: Pure and Applied_. (T. Wo.)
HOSHANGABAD, a town and district of British India, in the Nerbudda
division of the Central Provinces. The town stands on the left bank of
the Nerbudda, 1009 ft. above the sea, and has a railway station. Pop.
(1901), 14,940. It is supposed to have been founded by Hoshang Shah, the
second of the Ghori kings of Malwa, in the 15th century; but it remained
an insignificant place till the Bhopal conquest about 1720, when a
massive stone fort was constructed, with its base on the river,
commanding the Bhopal road. It sustained several sieges during the 18th
century, and passed alternately into the hands of the Bhopal and Nagpur
rulers. Since 1818 it has been the residence of the chief British
officials in charge of the district. It has a government high school,
and agricultural school and a brass-working industry.
The DISTRICT OF HOSHANGABAD has an area of 3676 sq. m. Pop. (1901),
449,165, showing a decrease of 10% in the decade, due to famine. It may
be described as a valley of varying breadth, extending for 150 m.
between the Nerbudda river and the Satpura mountains. The soil consists
chiefly of black basaltic alluvium, often more than 20 ft. deep; but
along the banks of the Nerbudda the fertility of the land compensates
for the tameness of the scenery. Towards the west, low stony hills and
broken ridges cut up the level ground, while the Vindhyas and the
Satpuras throw out jutting spurs and ranges. In this wilder country
considerable regions are covered with jungle. On the south the lofty
range which shuts in the valley is remarkable in mountain scenery,
surpassing in its picturesque irregularity the Vindhyan chain in the
north. Many streams take their rise amid its precipices, then, winding
through deep glens, flow across the plain between sandy banks covered
with low jungle till they swell the waters of the Nerbudda. None is of
any importance except the Tawa, which is interesting to the geologist on
account of the many minerals to be found along its course. The boundary
rivers, the Nerbudda and Tapti, are the only considerable waters in
Hoshangabad. The principal crops are wheat, millets and oil-seeds. The
district is traversed throughout its length by the Great Indian
Peninsula railway.
HOSHEA (Heb. for "deliverance"), the last king of Israel, in the Bible.
The attempt of his predecessor Pekah to take Jerusalem with the help of
his ally Rasun (Rezin) of Damascus was frustrated by the intervention of
Tiglath-Pileser IV. (see AHAZ), who attacked Gilead, Galilee and the
north frontier, and carried off some of its population (cp. 1 Chron. v.
26). Pekah's resistance to Assyria led to a conspiracy in which he lost
his life, and Hoshea the son of Elah became king (2 Kings xv. 27-30).
The Assyrian king held him as his vassal (and indeed claims to have set
him on the throne), and exacted from him a yearly tribute. Meanwhile,
Damascus was besieged (733-732 B.C.), Rasun was slain and the
inhabitants deported (2 Kings xvi. 9; LXX. omits "to Kir," but see Amos
i. 5). The impending fate of Damascus is illustrated by Isaiah (vii. 16,
viii. 4, xvii. 1-11), who also gives a vivid description of the
impression left by the Assyrian army (v. 26-30). After the death of
Tiglath-Pileser, Israel regained confidence (Isa. ix. 8-x. 4) and took
steps to recover its independence. Its policy vacillated--"like a silly
dove" (Hos. vii. 11), and at length negotiations were opened with
Mizraim. The annual payment of tribute ceased and Shalmaneser IV. (who
began to reign in 727 B.C.) at once laid siege to Samaria, which fell at
the end of three years (722-721 B.C.). The achievement is claimed by his
successor Sargon. Hoshea was killed, the land was again partly
depopulated and a governor appointed (2 Kings xviii. 9-12; cp. xvii. 1
sqq.). For other allusions to this period see HOSEA, ISAIAH.
2 Kings xvii. 3 and 5 imply _two_ attacks by Shalmaneser: in the first
of which Hoshea was imprisoned and perhaps blinded (Cheyne, emending,
"shut him up" in v. 4), although in v. 6 he is still reigning; see on
this Winckler, _Keilinschr. u. Alte Test._^3 p. 268; Burney, _Kings_,
p. 328 seq.; Skinner, _Kings_, p. 372 seq. The chronological notes,
moreover, are extremely confused; contrast xv. 30 with xvii. 1. The
usual identification of So (or Seve), king of Mizraim, with Shabaka of
Egypt is difficult, partly on chronological grounds (which Petrie,
_History of Egypt_, pp. 277, 281 sqq. does not remove), and partly
because the Ethiopian dominion in Egypt appears to be still weak and
divided. The Assyrian records name a certain Sibi as _officer_, and
also Piru (Pharaoh!) as _king_ of Musri, and it is doubtful whether
Hoshea's ally was a petty prince of Egypt or of a N. Arabian district
(see MIZRAIM). If the latter, Hoshea's policy becomes more
intelligible; see Whitehouse, _Isaiah_, p. 17 seq.; JEWS: _History_;
PHILISTINES. On the depopulation of Samaria and the introduction of
colonists, see Winckler's objections, _Alttest. Untersuch._ pp.
95-107, with Burney's criticisms, _Kings_, p. 334 seq. (S. A. C.)
HOSHIARPUR, a town of British India, in the Jullundur division of the
Punjab. Pop. (1901), 17,549. It was founded, according to tradition,
about the early part of the 14th century. In 1809 it was occupied by
Ranjit Singh. The maharaja and his successors maintained a considerable
cantonment 1 m. S.E. of the town, and the British government kept it up
for several years after the annexation of the Punjab in 1849. There are
manufactures of cotton goods, inlaid woodwork, lacquered ware, shoes and
copper vessels.
The DISTRICT OF HOSHIARPUR comprises an area of 2244 sq. m.; pop. (1901)
989,782, showing a decrease of 2% in the decade, compared with an
increase of 12% during the previous decade. It falls into two nearly
equal portions of hill and plain country. Its eastern face consists of
the westward slope of the Solar Singhi Hills; parallel with that ridge,
a line of lower heights belonging to the Siwalik range traverses the
district from south to north, while between the two chains stretches a
valley of uneven width, known as the Jaswan Dun. Its upper portion is
crossed by the Sohan torrent, while the Sutlej sweeps into its lower end
through a break in the hills, and flows in a southerly direction till it
turns the flank of the central range, and debouches westwards upon the
plains. This western plain consists of alluvial formation, with a
general westerly slope owing to the deposit of silt from the mountain
torrents in the sub-montane tract. The Beas has a fringe of lowland,
open to moderate but not excessive inundations, and considered very
fertile. A considerable area is covered by government woodlands, under
the care of the forest department. Rice is largely grown, in the marshy
flats along the banks of the Beas. Several religious fairs are held, at
Anandpur, Mukerian and Chintpurni, all of which attract an enormous
concourse of people. The district, owing to its proximity to the hills,
possesses a comparatively cool and humid climate. Cotton fabrics are
manufactured, and sugar, rice and other grains, tobacco and indigo are
among the exports.
The country around Hoshiarpur formed part of the old Hindu kingdom of
Katoch In Jullundur. The state was eventually broken up, and the present
district was divided between the rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan. They
retained undisturbed possession of their territories until 1759, when
the rising Sikh chieftains commenced a series of encroachments upon the
hill tracts. In 1815 the aggressive maharaja, Ranjit Singh, forced the
ruler of Jaswan to resign his territories in exchange for an estate on
feudal tenure; three years later the raja of Ditarpur met with similar
treatment. By the close of the year 1818 the whole country from the
Sutlej to the Beas had come under the government of Lahore, and after
the first Sikh war in 1846 passed to the British government. The deposed
rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan received cash pensions from the new rulers,
but expressed bitter disappointment at not being restored to their
former sovereign position. Accordingly the outbreak of the second Sikh
war, in 1848 found the disaffected chieftains ready for rebellion. They
organized a revolt, but the two rajas and the other ringleaders were
captured, and their estates confiscated.
HOSIERY, a term used to designate all manufactured textile fabrics which
in their process of manufacture have been built on the principle of
looping or loop structure. The origin of the term is obvious, being
derived from "hose" or stocking, this being one of the earliest garments
made by the process of knitting (q.v.). While it still forms one of the
staples of the trade, it is only one of a very numerous and diversified
range of applications of the entire industry. The elastic structure of
knitting makes it very adaptable for all kinds of body or underwear.
There is scarcely a single textile article manufactured but can be
reproduced on the knitting or loop structure principle. The art of
knitting is of very modern origin as compared with that of weaving. No
certain allusion to the art occurs before the beginning of the 15th
century. In an act of parliament of Henry VII. (1488) knitted woollen
caps are mentioned. It is supposed that the art was first practised in
Scotland, and thence carried into England, and that caps were made by
knitting for some period before the more difficult feat of
stocking-making was attempted. In an act of Edward VI. (1553) "knitte
hose, knitte peticotes, knitte gloves and knitte sleeves" are
enumerated, and the trade of hosiers, among others, included in an act
dated 1563. Spanish silk stockings were worn on rare occasions by Henry
VIII., and the same much-prized articles are also mentioned in connexion
with the wardrobe of Edward VI.
Knitting, or loop formation by mechanical means, is divided into two
distinct principles--frame-work knitting and warp knitting. Both
principles may be employed in the formation of a large variety of plain
and fancy stitches or a combination of the two.
_Frame-work Knitting_ in its simplest form consists of rows of loops
supporting each other--built from one continuous thread of yarn and
running from one side of the fabric to the other and back (fig. 1). It
is on this principle of stitch that the greatest amount of hosiery is
built (hose, shirts, pants).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The Stitch or Loop Structure of Plain Knitting
(back of fabric).]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A Single Thread formed into a Chain of Crocket
Work, showing the Loop Structure of the plain Warp-knitted Fabric. It
is built up as shown in the diagram by a number of threads running up
the fabric.]
_Warp Knitting_ in its simplest form consists of rows of loops, but
the number of threads employed are equal to the number of loops in the
width of the fabric. Thus it will be seen that the threads run
lengthwise of the fabric (fig. 2). This principle gives greater scope
for reproducing designs in openwork and colour than that of
frame-work knitting. For this reason it is largely used in the shawl,
glove and fancy hosiery industries.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Hand Stocking Frame.]
_Machinery._--In hand knitting the implements employed (a few needles
or wires) are very simple and inexpensive. In the manufacturing
industry the most complex and ingenious machinery is used. In 1589 the
Rev. William Lee, a graduate of St John's College, Cambridge, while
acting as curate (or vicar) of Calverton, Nottinghamshire, introduced
his stocking-frame. This machine was the first mechanical means
employed to produce a looped or knitted fabric. This frame or machine
of Lee's was the origin of all the hosiery and lace machines at
present in use. One of the most remarkable points about his invention
was its completeness and adaptability for the work for which its
inventor intended it. The main principles of Lee's frame are embodied
in most of the rotary or power frames of the present day. Fig. 3 shows
a hand frame of the present day.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.
A, The leads into which the needles (B) are cast.
D, The old loops or work.
C, The new loops formed and brought under the beards.]
In hand knitting an indefinite number of loops are skewered on a wire
or pin, but, in Lee's frame, an individual hooked or bearded needle is
employed for the support and formation of each loop in the breadth of
the fabric. This needle consists of a shank with a terminal
spring-pointed hook (or beard), the point of which can be pressed at
will into a groove or eye in the shank. For method by which the loops
are formed on the needles of the frame see fig. 4. This shows a few of
Lee's hooked or bearded needles having the old loops or work hanging
round the needle shanks. The thread of yarn which is to form the new
row of loops is laid over the needle shanks and waved or looped
between each pair of needles. This waving or looping ensures
sufficient yarn being drawn and loops of a uniform size being made, so
that a regular and level fabric will be produced. The looping or
waving is obtained by having thin plates of shaped metal, called
sinkers, which have a nose-shaped point and hang between the needles.
When looping they have an individual movement downwards between the
needles, and as they fall the nose-shaped point carries the yarn down,
thus forming the new loop (fig. 5). The size of the loop is regulated
by the distance the sinker is allowed to fall. After the thread of
yarn has been looped between the needle shanks by the sinkers, the
loops are brought forward under the needle beards or hooks. A presser
bar is now brought down to close or press all the points of the needle
beards into the eye in the shank. Thus all the hook ends of the
needles are temporarily closed, with the newly formed loops under
them. While in this position, the old loops hanging round the shank
are brought forward and landed on to the top of the needle beard and
off the needle altogether, being thus left hanging round, or supported
by the loops newly formed. The needle beards are now released, and the
loops drawn back along the shanks to be in position for next new
course of loops. The foregoing is only an outline of how the loops are
formed on the needles. It is not necessary here to enter into a
description of the complex mechanical movements of Lee's
stocking-frame. The first fabric made by Lee was of a flat,
even-selvedged nature, so that garments had to be cut to shape from
the fabric. He soon learned to fashion or shape the garment at will,
during the process of making, by transferring loops at the edges,
inwards to narrow, or outwards to widen. This process at the present
day is known as fashioning, and all garments of the best make are
shaped or fashioned in this manner. After Lee had practised his new
art for a few years at Calverton he removed to London, but on his
receiving no help or encouragement from Queen Elizabeth or her
successor, King James, he was induced to cross over to France with his
frames. There he built up a flourishing industry at Rouen, under the
patronage of the French king, Henry IV. Through the murder of this
monarch he lost his patronage and died of want about the year 1610. He
was buried in an unknown grave in Paris.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Formation of a Loop on a Hand Frame.
1, Bearded needle cast in the lead. A, Lead; B, Shank; C, Eye; D,
Beard.
2, The thread is laid over the needles and formed into loops between
the needles by means of the sinkers, those new-formed loops being
brought under the needle beards (as at 3).
4, The beards pressed or closed to allow the old loops to be passed
on to the top.
5, The old loops knocked off the needles and left hanging round the
newly formed loops.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--A 1/1 Rib Stitch.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Eight at once, 130 gauge, full-fashioned,
seamless bosom, sloped shoulder underwear frame, Cotton's patents.
(William Cotton, Ltd., Loughborough.)]
A number of improvements had been made on Lee's frame during the 18th
century. The one of greatest importance was the rib machine invented
by Jedediah Strutt of Belper in 1758. It was not what could be
actually termed an improvement on Lee's frame, but an addition to it.
Lee's frame was not altered in any way, Strutt's machine being added
to it, and the two being worked in conjunction produced a fabric of a
more elastic nature and alike on both sides (fig. 6). Strutt's machine
consisted of a set of needles placed at right angles to and between
Lee's plain needles, with the result that, when knitting, the frame
needles drew their loops to one side and the machine needles their
loops to the opposite side of the fabric. The first offshoot from
frame-work knitting was the invention of the hand warp loom in 1775.
It was improved by the addition of the Dawson wheel by William Dawson
in 1791. This machine is the origin of the various complex machines
now working on this principle. Some of these have Jacquard mechanism
attached, and nearly all of them are driven by motive power. About the
middle of the 19th century close on 50,000 of Lee's hand frames were
in use, finding employment for nearly 100,000 persons. Many attempts
had been made previously to transform Lee's frame into a power or
rotary frame. One of the first and most successful was that invented
by Luke Barton in 1857. This frame was fitted with self-acting
mechanism for fashioning, and was practically Lee's frame having
rotary shafts with cams added to give the various movements, this type
of frame being known as straight bar rotary frames. In 1864 William
Cotton of Loughborough altered this frame by reversing the positions
of the needles and sinkers. Although made by various builders it is
still known as the "Cotton Patent Rotary Frame" (fig. 7). Since 1864 a
great number of important improvements and additions have been made to
this frame. Single frames are built which will turn off one dozen
pairs of hose at once, with the attention of one person. One of the
most important inventions in connexion with the hosiery trade was the
latch, tumbler, or self-acting needle invented by Matthew Townsend and
David Moulding of Leicester in 1858. Previous to this Lee's type of
needle was the only one in use. This latch-needle (fig. 8) consists of
a stem having a butt at lower end by which it receives its knitting
action from cams, the upper end being turned into a hook. Near the
hook end and attached to the stem by a pin is the spoon-shaped latch,
which closes over the hook as required. Machines fitted with
latch-needles have grooves in which the stem of the needle works.
Cams, which act on the needle butts, give the needles their individual
knitting action in rotation. This needle is self-acting, in that it is
made to draw its own loop, sinkers being dispensed with.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Various Shapes of the Latch Needle.]
Fig. 9 shows the looping action of this needle. The needles when not
knitting have a loop round their shank, thus holding the latch open.
When about to knit, they are raised individually and in rotation (by
the cams acting on the needle butts) to receive the new loop of yarn.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Individual Action of the Latch Needle.]
Down till almost the middle of the 19th century only a flat web could
be knitted in the machines in use, and for the finishing of stockings,
&c., it was necessary to seam up the selvedges of web shaped on the
frame (fashioned work), or to cut and seam them from even web (cut
work). The introduction of any device by which seamless garments could
be fabricated was obviously a great desideratum, and it is a singular
fact that a machine capable of doing this was patented in 1816 by Sir
Marc I. Brunel. This frame was the origin of the French-German
loop-wheel circular frame of the present day. Brunel's frame was
greatly improved by Peter Claussen of Brussels and was shown at an
exhibition in Nottingham in 1845. This frame had horizontal placed
needles fixed on a rotating rim. A few years later Moses Mellor of
Nottingham transformed this type of frame by altering the position of
the needles to perpendicular. This is now known as the English
loop-wheel circular frame. After the invention of the latch-needle
there was a revolution in the hosiery machine-building industry, new
types of machines being invented, fitted to work with latch-needles.
Among others there was the latch-needle circular frame, invented by
Thomas Thompson, which was the origin of the English latch-needle
circular frame, a frame largely used for the production of wide
circular fabric.
A circular knitting machine of American origin is the type of machine
on which is produced the seamless hosiery of to-day. Like the sewing
machine it is largely used in the home as well as in the factory. From
this machine all the circular automatic power machines for making
plain and rib seamless hose and half hose have been developed. The
"flat" or "lamb" type of machine, an American invention, was
introduced by J. W. Lamb in 1863. This machine has two needle beds or
rows of needles sloping at an angle of nearly 90 deg.
A great many varieties of this type of machine have been invented for
the production of all kinds of plain and fancy hosiery. It is built in
small sizes to be wrought by hand or in large power machines. A large
variety of sewing, seaming and linking machines are employed in the
hosiery industry for the purpose of putting together or joining all
kinds of hosiery and knitted goods. These machines have almost
entirely superseded the sewing or joining of the garments by hand.
The principle centres in Great Britain of the hosiery industry are
Leicester and Nottingham and the surrounding districts. It is also an
industry of some extent in the south of Scotland. (T. B.*)
HOSIUS, or OSIUS (c. 257-359), bishop of Cordova, was born about A.D.
257, probably at Cordova, although from a passage in Zosimus it has
sometimes been conjectured that he was believed by that writer to be a
native of Egypt. Elected to the see of Cordova before the end of the 3rd
century, he narrowly escaped martyrdom in the persecution of Maximian
(303-305). In 305 or 306 he attended the council of Illiberis or Elvira
(his name appearing second in the list of those present), and upheld
its severe canons concerning such points of discipline as the treatment
of the lapsed and clerical marriages. In 313 he appears at the court of
Constantine, being expressly mentioned by name in a constitution
directed by the emperor to Caecilianus of Carthage in that year. In 323
he was the bearer and possibly the writer of Constantine's letter to
Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius his deacon, bidding them cease
disturbing the peace of the church; and, on the failure of the
negotiations in Egypt, it was doubtless with the active concurrence of
Hosius that the council of Nicaea was convened in 325. He certainly took
part in its proceedings, and was one of the large number of "confessors"
present; that he presided is a very doubtful assertion, as also that he
was the principal author of the Nicene Creed. Still he powerfully
influenced the judgment of the emperor in favour of the orthodox party.
After a period of quiet life in his own diocese, Hosius presided in 343
at the fruitless synod of Sardica, which showed itself so hostile to
Arianism; and afterwards he spoke and wrote in favour of Athanasius in
such a way as to bring upon himself a sentence of banishment to Sirmium
(355). From his exile he wrote to Constantius II. his only extant
composition, a letter not unjustly characterized by the great French
historian Sebastian Tillemont as displaying gravity, dignity,
gentleness, wisdom, generosity and in fact all the qualities of a great
soul and a great bishop. Subjected to continual pressure the old man,
who was near his hundredth year, was weak enough to sign the formula
adopted by the second synod of Sirmium in 357, which involved communion
with the Arians but not the condemnation of Athanasius. He was then
permitted to return to his diocese, where he died in 359.
See S. Tillemont, _Memoires_, vii. 300-321 (1700); Hefele,
_Conciliengeschichte_, vol. i.; H. M. Gwatkin, _Studies of Arianism_
(Cambridge, 1882, 2nd ed., 1900); A. W. W. Dale, _The Synod of Elvira_
(London, 1882); and article _s.v._ in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_
(3rd ed., 1900), with bibliography.
HOSIUS, STANISLAUS (1504-1579), Polish cardinal, was born in Cracow on
the 5th of May 1504. He studied law at Padua and Bologna, and entering
the church became in 1549 bishop of Kulm, in 1551 bishop of Ermland, and
in 1561 cardinal. Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the
Protestant reformation, going so far as to desire a repetition of the St
Bartholomew massacre in Poland. Apart from its being "the property of
the Roman Church," he regarded the Bible as having no more worth than
the fables of Aesop. Hosius was not distinguished as a theologian,
though he drew up the _Confessio fidei christiana catholica_ adopted by
the synod of Piotrkow in 1557. He was, however, supreme as a diplomatist
and administrator. Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations,
he founded the lyceum of Braunsberg, which became the centre of the
Roman Catholic mission among Protestants. He died at Capranica near Rome
on the 5th of August 1579.
A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne in 1584.
Life by A. Eichhorn (Mainz, 1854), 2 vols.
HOSKINS, JOHN (d. 1664), English miniature painter, the uncle of Samuel
Cooper, who received his artistic education in Hoskins's house. His
finest miniatures are at Ham House, Montagu House, Windsor Castle,
Amsterdam and in the Pierpont Morgan collection. Vertue stated that
Hoskins had a son, and Redgrave added that the son painted a portrait of
James II. in 1686 and was paid L10, 5s, although it is not supported by
any reference in the State Papers. Some contemporary inscriptions on the
miniatures at Ham House record them as the work of "Old Hoskins," but
the fact of the existence of a younger artist of the same name is
settled by a miniature in the Pierpont Morgan collection, signed by
Hoskins, and bearing an authentic engraved inscription on its
contemporary frame to the effect that it represents the duke of Berwick
at the age of twenty-nine in 1700. The elder Hoskins was buried on the
22nd of February 1664, in St Paul's, Covent Garden, and as there is no
doubt of the authenticity of this miniature or of the signature upon
it, it is evident that he had a son who survived him thirty-six years
and whose monogram we find upon this portrait. The frame of it has also
the royal coat of arms debruised, the batons of a marshal of France, the
collar of the Golden Fleece and the ducal coronet. (G. C. W.)
HOSMER, HARRIET GOODHUE (1830-1908), American sculptor, was born at
Watertown, Massachussetts, on the 9th of October 1830. She early showed
marked aptitude for modelling, and studied anatomy with her father, a
physician, and afterwards at the St Louis Medical College. She then
studied in Boston until 1852, when, with her friend Charlotte Cushman,
she went to Rome, where from 1853 to 1860 she was the pupil of the
English sculptor John Gibson. She lived in Rome until a few years before
her death. There she was associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Thorwaldsen, Flaxman, Thackeray, George Eliot and George Sand; and she
was frequently the guest of the Brownings at Casa Guidi, in Florence.
Among her works are "Daphne" and "Medusa," ideal heads (1853); "Puck"
(1855), a spirited and graceful conception which she copied for the
prince of Wales, the duke of Hamilton and others; "Oenone" (1855), her
first life-sized figure, now in the St Louis Museum of Fine Arts;
"Beatrice Cenci" (1857), for the Mercantile Library of St Louis;
"Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, in Chains" (1859), now in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York City; "A Sleeping Faun" (1867); "A Waking Faun";
a bronze statue of Thomas H. Benton (1868) for Lafayette Park, St Louis;
bronze gates for the earl of Brownlow's art gallery at Ashridge Hall; a
Siren fountain for Lady Marian Alford; a fountain for Central Park, New
York City; a monument to Abraham Lincoln; and, for the Columbian
Exposition, Chicago, 1893, statues of the queen of Naples as the
"heroine of Gaeta," and of Queen Isabella of Spain. Miss Hosmer died at
Watertown, Mass., on the 21st of February 1908.
HOSPICE (Lat. _hospitium_, entertainment, hospitality, inn, _hospes_,
host), the name usually given to the homes of rest and refuge kept by
religious houses for pilgrims and guests. The most famous hospices are
those of the Great and Little St Bernard Passes in the Alps.
HOSPITAL (Lat. _hospitalis_, the adjective of _hospes_, host or guest),
a term now in general use for institutions in which medical treatment is
given to the sick or injured. The place where a guest was received, was
in Lat. _hospitium_ (Fr. _hospice_), but the terms _hospitalis_ (sc.
_domus_), _hospitale_ (sc. _cubiculum_) and _hospitalia_ (sc.
_cubicula_) came into use in the same sense. Hence were derived on the
one hand the Fr. _hospital_, _hopital_, applied to establishments for
temporary occupation by the sick for the purpose of medical treatment,
and _hospice_ to places for permanent occupation by the poor, infirm,
incurable or insane; on the other, the form _hotel_, which became
restricted (except in the ease of _hotel-Dieu_) to private or public
dwelling-houses for ordinary occupation. In English, while "hostel"
retained the earlier sense and "hotel" has become confined to that of a
superior inn (q.v.), "hospital" was used both in the sense of a
permanent retreat for the poor infirm or for the insane, and also for a
regular institution for the temporary reception of sick cases; but
modern usage has gradually restricted it mainly to the latter, other
words, such as almshouse and asylum, being preferred in the former
cases.
_The Origin of Hospitals._--In spite of contrary opinions the germ of
the hospital system may be seen in pre-Christian times (see CHARITY AND
CHARITIES). Pinel goes so far as to declare that there were asylums
distinctly set apart for the insane in the temples of Saturn in ancient
Egypt. But this is probably an exaggeration, the real historical facts
pointing to the existence of medical schools in connexion with the
temples generally, to the knowledge that the priests possessed what
medical science existed, and finally to the rite of "Incubation," which
involved the visit of sick persons to the temple, in the shade of which
they slept, that the god might inform them by dreams of the treatment
they ought to follow. The temples of Saturn are known to have existed
some 4000 years before Christ; and that those temples were medical
schools in their earliest form is beyond question. The reason why no
records of these temples have survived is due to the fact that they were
destroyed in a religious revolution which swept away the very name of
Saturn from the monuments in the country. Professor Georg Ebers of
Leipzig, whose possession of that important handbook of Egyptian
medicine called the _Papyrus Ebers_ constitutes him an authority, says
the Heliopolis certainly had a clinic united to the temple. The temples
of Dendera, Thebes and Memphis, are other examples. Those early medical
works, the Books of Hermes, were preserved in the shrines. Patients
coming to them paid contributions to the priests. The most famous
temples in Greece for the cure of disease were those of Aesculapius at
Cos and Trikka, while others at Rhodes, Cnidus, Pergamum and Epidaurus
were less known but frequented. Thus it is clear that both in Egypt and
in Greece the custom of laying the sick in the precincts of the temples
was a national practice.
Alexandria again was a famous medical centre. Before describing the
European growth of the hospital system in modern times, to which its
development in the Roman Empire is the natural introduction, it will be
well to dispose very briefly of the facts relating to the hospital
system in the East. Harun al-Rashid (A.D. 763-809) attached a college to
every mosque, and to that again a hospital. He placed at Bagdad an
asylum for the insane open to all believers; and there was a large
number of public infirmaries for the sick without payment in that city.
Benjamin, the Jewish traveller, notes an efficient scheme for the
reception of the sick in A.D. 1173, which had long been in existence.
The Buddhists no less than the Mahommedans had their hospitals, and as
early as 260 B.C. the emperor Asoka founded the many hospitals of which
Hindustan could then boast. The one at Surat, made famous by travellers,
and considered to have been built under the emperor's second edict, is
still in existence. These hospitals contained provision so extensive as
to be quite comparable to modern institutions. In China the only records
that remain are those of books of very early date dealing with the
theory of medicine. To return to India, the hospitals of Asoka were
swept away by a revival of Brahmanism, and a practical hiatus exists
between the hospitals he introduced and those that were refounded by the
British ascendancy. Hadrian's reign contains the first notice of a
military hospital in Rome. At the beginning of the Christian era we hear
of the existence of open surgeries (of various price and reputation),
the specialization of the medical profession, and the presence of women
practitioners, often as obstetricians. Iatria, or _tabernae-medicae_,
are described by Galen and Placetus: many towns built them at their own
cost. These iatria attended almost entirely to out-patients, and the
system of medicine fostered by them continued without much development
down to the middle of the 18th century. It is to be noted that these
out-patients paid reasonable fees. In Christian days no establishments
were founded for the relief of the sick till the time of Constantine. A
law of Justinian referring to various institutions connected with the
church mentions among them the Nosocomia, which correspond to our idea
of hospitals. In A.D. 370 Basil had one built for lepers at Caesarea. St
Chrysostom founded a hospital at Constantinople. At Alexandria an order
of 600 Parabolani attended to the sick, being chosen for the purpose for
their experience by the prelate of the city (A.D. 416). Fabiola, a rich
Roman lady, founded the first hospital at Rome possessed of a
convalescent home in the country. She even became a nurse herself. St
Augustine founded one at his see of Hippo. These Nosocomia fell indeed
almost entirely into the hands of the church, which supported them by
its revenues when necessary and controlled their administration. Salerno
became famous as a school of medicine; its rosiest days were between
A.D. 1000 and 1050. Frederick II. prescribed the course for students
there, and founded a rival school at Naples. At this period the
connexion between monasteries and hospitals becomes a marked one. The
crusaders also created another bond between the church and hospital
development, as the route they traversed was marked by such foundations.
Lepers were some of the earliest patients for whom a specialized
treatment was recognized, and in 1118 a leprosarium was built in London
for isolation purposes. Russia seems the one country where the
interconnexion of hospital and monastery was not to be observed. After
the period already reached, the 13th century, hospitals became common
enough to demand individual or at any rate national treatment.
_History of the Hospital Movement._--We have now to consider the
principles upon which the provision of the best form of medical care in
hospitals can be secured for all classes of people. Though hospitals
cannot be claimed as a direct result of Christianity, no doubt it
softened the relations between men, and gradually tended to instil
humanitarian views and to make them popular with the civilized peoples
of the world. These principles, as civilization grew, education
improved, and the tastes and requirements of the common people were
developed, made men and women of many races realize that the treatment
of disease in buildings set apart exclusively for the care of the sick
was, in fact, a necessity in urban districts. The establishment of a
hospital freed the streets of the abuses attendant upon beggars and
other poor creatures, who made their ailments the chief ground of appeal
for alms. As the knowledge of hygiene and of the doctrine of cleanliness
and purity in regard not only to dwellings and towns, but also in
relation to food of all descriptions, including water, became known and
appreciated, hospitals were found to be of even greater importance, if
that is possible, to the healthy in crowded communities, than to the
sick. It took many centuries before sound hygiene really began to occupy
the position of importance which it is now known to possess, not only in
regard to the treatment and cure of disease, but to its prevention and
eradication. So the history of the world shows, that, whereas a few of
the larger towns in most countries contained hospitals of sorts, up to
and including the middle ages, it was not until the commencement of the
18th century that inhabitants of important but relatively small towns of
from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants began to provide themselves with a
hospital for the care of the sick. Thus, twenty-three of the principal
English counties appear to have had no general hospital prior to 1710,
while London itself at that date, so far as the relief of the sick was
concerned, was mainly, if not entirely, dependent upon St Bartholomew's
and St Thomas's Hospitals. These facts are interesting to note, because
we are enabled from them to deduce from recent events that hospital
buildings in the past, though the planning of most of them was faulty to
begin with and became more and more faulty as extensions were added to
the original buildings, did in fact suffice to satisfy the requirements
of the medical profession for nearly two centuries. In other words,
under the old condition of affairs the life of a building devoted to the
care of the sick might be considered as at least 150 years. To-day,
under the conditions which modern science impose upon the management,
probably few hospital buildings are likely to be regarded as efficient
for the purpose of treating the sick for more than from 30 to 50 years.
The foregoing statement is based upon the history of British hospitals
of importance throughout the country, but the same remark will apply in
practice to hospital buildings almost everywhere throughout the world.
In truth, hospitals have been more developed and improved in Great
Britain than in other countries, though, since the last quarter of the
19th century, German scientists especially have added much to the
efficiency of the accommodation for the sick, not only at hospitals but
in private clinics, and many German ideas have been accepted and copied
by other countries. In Great Britain hospitals for the treatment of
general and special diseases are mainly maintained upon what is known as
the voluntary system. On the European continent, hospitals as a rule are
maintained by the state or municipalities, and this system is so fully
developed in Sweden and elsewhere that a sound economical principle has
been embroidered upon the hospital system, to the great physical and
moral advantage of all classes of the community. The system referred to
confers great benefits upon inhabitants in large towns by bringing the
poor-law and voluntary institutions into more intimate association,
although they may be managed by separate governing bodies. The plan
pursued is to demand payment from all patients who are admitted to the
hospital under a scale of charges divided into three or four grades. The
first grade pays a substantial sum and obtains anything or everything
the patient may care to have or to pay for, subject to the control of
the medical attendant. The second pays much less, but a remunerative
rate, for all they receive at the hospital; and the third and fourth
classes are very poor people or paupers, who are paid for on a graduated
scale by the poor-law authorities, or the communal government, or the
municipality. Under this system well-to-do thrifty artisans and
improvident paupers are all treated by one staff, controlled by one
administration, and are located in immediate proximity to each other
though in separate pavilions. We have no doubt, as the result of many
years' investigation and an accurate knowledge of the working of the
system, that this is the true principle to enforce in providing adequate
medical relief for large urban populations everywhere throughout the
world. It should be accompanied by a system of government insurance,
whereby all classes who desire to be thrifty may pay a small annual
premium in the days of health, and secure adequate hospital treatment
and care when ill. Provided that pay wings were added to the existing
voluntary and municipal hospitals, it should be found that the
relatively small annual premium of L3 per annum should enable the
policyholders to defray the cost of medical treatment in a pay ward or
at a consultation department of a great hospital as a matter of
business. In the United States of America most large towns have great
hospitals, usually known as city hospitals, administered and mainly
supported by the municipality. Many such institutions have pay wards,
but nowhere, so far as we have been able to discover, has the system of
medical relief in its entirety been organized as yet upon the business
system we have just referred to.
As to the relative merits and demerits of the systems of government of
municipal hospitals and voluntary hospitals a few words may be useful.
There can be no doubt that the voluntary hospital in Great Britain has
had a remarkable effect for good upon all classes in the making of
modern England. The management of these institutions is frequently
representative of all classes of the people, while the voluntary system,
as the Hospital Sunday collections all over the country, and all over
the English-speaking world, prove, has united all creeds in the good
work of caring and providing for the sick and injured members of each
community. Again the voluntary system makes for efficiency in the
administration of all hospitals. Each voluntary hospital is dependent
upon its popularity and efficiency, in large measure, for the financial
support it receives. In this way an ill-managed voluntary hospital, or
one which has ceased to fulfil any useful public purpose, is sure to
disappear in due course under the voluntary system. Voluntary hospitals
are always open to, as well as supported by, the public, and, owing
largely to the example so prominently set by King Edward VII. and
members of the royal family, more people every year devote some time in
some way to the cause of the hospitals. Attached to the voluntary
hospitals are the principal medical and nursing schools upon which the
public depend for the supply of doctors and nurses. The education of
students and nurses in a clinical hospital makes that hospital the most
desirable place for everybody when they are really ill. In such a
hospital no patient can be overlooked, no wrong or imperfect diagnosis
can long remain undiscovered and unrectified, and nowhere else have the
patients so continuous a guarantee that the treatment they receive will
be of the best, while the provision made for their comfort and welfare,
owing to the unceasing and ever varying quality of the criticism to
which the work of everybody, from the senior physician to the humblest
official, is subjected in a clinical hospital, is unequalled anywhere
else. At a great voluntary hospital, not only do hundreds of medical
students and nurses work in the wards, but thousands of people, in the
persons of the patients' friends, and those members of the public who
take an interest in hospitals, pass through the wards in the course of
every year. Again, each voluntary hospital has to live by competition, a
fact which guarantees that everything in the way of new treatment and
scientific development shall in due course find its proper place within
the walls of such an establishment. Open as they are to the full
inspection of everybody whose knowledge and presence can promote
efficiency, the voluntary hospitals have shown, especially since the
last quarter of the 19th century, a continuous development and
improvement. Here the patients are treated with invariable kindness and
consideration, as human beings rather than cases, to the great benefit
of the whole human family as represented by the officials, the patients
and the students, with their relations and friends, the honorary medical
officers, hundreds of medical practitioners and nurses, who receive
their medical training in the hospitals, and the ever-increasing number
of governors and supporters by whose contributions voluntary hospitals
live. The great missionary and social value of the voluntary hospitals
to the whole community cannot be questioned, and they have been of
inestimable value to the churches by inculcating the higher principles
of humanity, while removing the many acerbities which might otherwise
prevail between rich and poor in large cities.
The voluntary hospitals are attended, however, by certain disadvantages
which do not attach to municipal institutions. A municipality which
undertakes the provision of hospitals for the entire community is
largely able to plan out the urban area, and to provide that each
hospital site selected shall not only be suitable for the purpose, but
that it shall be so chosen as to contribute to make the whole system of
hospital provision easily accessible to all classes who may require its
aid. The voluntary hospitals, on the contrary, have grown up without any
comprehensive plan of the districts or any real regard to the
convenience or necessities of their poorer inhabitants. Voluntary
hospital sites were almost invariably selected to suit the convenience
of the honorary medical staff and the general convenience of the
hospital economy rather than to save the patients and their friends long
journeys in search of medical aid. The best of the municipal systems too
enables economy to be enforced in the administration by a plan which
provides a central office in every town where the number of vacant beds
in each hospital is known, so that the average of occupied beds in all
the hospitals can be well maintained from an economical point of view.
This speedy and ready inter-communication between all hospitals in a
great city, which might perfectly well be secured under the voluntary
system if the managers could only be brought into active co-operation,
prevents delay in the admission of urgent cases, promotes the absence of
waste by keeping the average of beds occupied in each establishment high
and uniform, and has often proved a real gain to the poor by the
diminution in cost to the patients and their friends, who under the best
municipal systems can find a hospital within reasonable distance of
their home in a large city wherever it may be placed. Another advantage
of the municipal system should be that central control makes for
economical administration. Unfortunately a close study of this question
tends to prove that municipal hospitals for the most part have resulted
in a dead monotony of relative inefficiency, often entailing great
extravagance in buildings, and accompanied by much waste in many
directions. Existing municipal hospital systems are attended by several
grave disadvantages. The administration shows a tendency to lag and grow
sleepy and inert. The absence of competition, and the freedom from
continuous publicity and criticism such as the voluntary hospitals
enjoy, make for inefficiency and indifferent work. Rate-supported
hospitals, as a rule, are administered by permanent officials who reside
in houses usually situated on the hospital sites, and who are paid
salaries which attract the younger men, who, once appointed, tend to
continue in office for a long period of years. This fixture of tenure is
apt to cause a decline in the general interest in the work of the
municipal hospital, due mainly to the absence of a continuous criticism
from outside, and so the average of efficiency, both in regard to
treatment and other important matters, may become lower and lower.
Those who have habitually inspected great rate-supported hospitals must
have met instances over and over again where a gentleman who has held
office for twenty or thirty years has frankly stated that his income is
fixed, that his habits have become crystallized, that he finds the work
terribly monotonous, and yet, as he hopes ultimately to retire upon a
pension, he has felt there was no course open to him but to continue in
office, even though he may feel conscientiously that a change would be
good for the patients, for the hospital and for himself. Under the
voluntary system evils of this kind are seldom or never met with, nor
have these latter establishments, within living memory, ever been so
conducted as to exhibit the grave scandals which have marred the
administration of rate-supported hospitals not only in Great Britain but
in other parts of the world. We believe that the more thoroughly the
advantages and disadvantages of rate-supported and voluntary hospitals
for the care of the sick are weighed and considered, and the more
accurate and full the knowledge which is added to the judgment upon
which a decision can be based, the more certain will it be that every
capable administrator will come to the conclusion that on the whole it
is good for the sick and for the whole community that these
establishments should, at any rate in Great Britain, be maintained upon
the voluntary system. Of course it is essential to have rate-supported
hospitals where cases of infectious disease and the poorest of the
people who are dependent largely upon the poor-law for their maintenance
can be cared for. It is satisfactory to be able to state that of late
years the administration of both these types of rate-supported hospitals
has greatly improved. The added importance now given all over the
country to medical officers of health, and the disposition exhibited,
both by parliament and government departments, to make the position of
these officers more important and valuable than ever before, have tended
largely to improve the administrative efficiency of hospitals for
infectious diseases. No doubt the whole community would benefit if
residents in every part of the country could be moved to take a personal
interest in the infectious hospital in their immediate neighbourhood.
Amongst the smaller of these establishments there has been so marked an
inefficiency at times as to cause much avoidable suffering. The
existence of such inefficiency casts a grave reflection upon the local
authorities and others who are responsible for the evils which
undoubtedly exist in various places at the present time. Unfortunately
knowledge has not yet sufficiently spread to enable the public to
overcome its fear and dread of infectious maladies. It is therefore very
difficult to induce people to take an active interest in one of these
hospitals, but we look forward to the time when, owing to the activity
of the medical officers of health who have immediate charge of buildings
of this kind, this difficulty may be overcome, when the avoidable
dangers and risks and the appalling discomfort which a poor sufferer
from a severe infectious disease in a rural district may suddenly have
to encounter under existing circumstances, would be rendered impossible.
The poor-law infirmary in large cities, so far as the buildings and
equipment are concerned, very often leaves little to desire. Poor-law
infirmaries lack, however, the stimulus and the checks and advantages
which impartial criticism continuously applied brings to a great
voluntary hospital. Such disadvantages might be entirely removed if
parliament would decide to throw open every poor-law infirmary for
clinical purposes, and to have connected with each such establishment a
responsible visiting medical staff, consisting of the best qualified men
to be found in the community which each hospital serves. The old
prejudice against hospital treatment has disappeared, for the least
intelligent members of the population now understand that, when a
citizen is sick, there is no place so good as the wards of a
well-administered hospital. Looking at the question of hospital
provision in Great Britain, and indeed in all countries at the present
time, it may be said, that there is everywhere evidence of improvement
and development upon the right lines, so that never before in the
history of the world has the lot of the sick man or woman been so
relatively fortunate and safe as it is in the present day. Probably it
is not too much to say that to-day hospitals occupy the most important
position in the social economy of nations.
_Classification of Hospitals._--Having dealt with hospitals as a whole
it may be well very briefly to classify them in groups, and explain as
tersely as possible what they represent and how far it may be desirable
to eliminate by consolidation or to increase by disintegration the
number of special hospitals.
_General Hospitals._--These establishments consist of two kinds, (a)
clinical and (b) non-clinical, each of which, under the modern system,
should include every department of medicine and surgery, and every
appliance and means for the alleviation of suffering, the healing of
wounds, the reduction of fractures, the removal of mal-formations and
foreign growths, the surgical restoration of damaged and diseased organs
and bones, and everything of every kind which experience and knowledge
prove to be necessary to the rapid cure of disease. The clinical
hospital means an institution to which a medical school is attached,
where technical instruction is given by able and qualified teachers to
medical students and others. A non-clinical hospital is one which is not
attached to a medical school, and where no medical instruction is
organized.
_Special Hospitals._--Up to about 1840 the general hospital was,
speaking generally, the only hospital in existence. Twenty years later,
as the population increased and medical science became more and more
active, some of the more ardent members of the medical profession,
especially amongst the younger men, pressed continuously for
opportunities to develop the methods of treatment in regard to special
diseases for which neither accommodation nor appliances were at that
time forthcoming in general hospitals. In a few cases, where the
managers of the great general hospitals were men of action and
initiative special departments were introduced, and an attempt was made
to make them efficient. The conservative spirit which, on the whole,
represents the British character for the most part, resulted, however,
in a steady resistance being offered by the older members of the medical
staffs and existing committees to the advocates of special departments.
In the result, especially as such special departments as there were in
connexion with general hospitals were too often starved for want of
means and men for their development and improvement, the younger spirits
called their friends together and began to start special hospitals.
To-day every really efficient clinical general hospital has within its
walls special departments of almost every description, which have been
made as efficient and up-to-date as money and knowledge can make them.
Unfortunately the causes already referred to led to the establishment of
hundreds of the smaller special hospitals, many of which were started in
unsuitable buildings, and some of which have ever since maintained a
struggling existence. Others, on the contrary, through the energy of
their original promoters and the excellence of the work they have done,
have obtained a position of authority and reputation which has had a
very important bearing for good upon the development of medical science
in the treatment of disease. If the world had to-day to organize the
very best system of hospital accommodation which could be evolved, there
is no doubt that few or none of the special hospitals would find any
place in that system. As matters stand, however, the special hospital
has had to be accepted, and nothing which King Edward's Hospital Fund
has done in London has met with greater popularity and professional
approval than the labours which its council have undertaken in promoting
the amalgamation of the smaller special hospitals of certain kinds, so
as to secure the provision of one really efficient special hospital for
each speciality. No doubt this policy of amalgamation will be steadily
pursued, and in the course of years every great city will gradually
reorganize its hospital methods so as to secure that, whether the
patients are treated in a general hospital or in a special hospital, the
average efficiency in every institution shall be as high and as good as
possible.
We will take now the special hospitals in detail.
_Cancer Hospitals._--The justification for efficient cancer hospitals
must be found in the circumstance that most scientific men of
experience believe that, if adequate resources were placed at the
disposal of the medical profession, the origin of cancer might be
discovered, and so the human race would be freed from one of the most
awful diseases which affect humanity. Pending such a discovery the
experience of the cancer department connected with the Middlesex
Hospital in London proves to demonstration that the provision of
adequate and special accommodation for the exclusive treatment of
cases of cancer is not only desirable but necessary on humanitarian
grounds alone.
_Hospitals for Consumption._--For many years it was held that this
group of hospitals was not a necessity, and the patients were treated
in the ordinary medical wards of the general hospitals. Since the
contagious character of tuberculosis became known, and improved
methods of treatment have been developed, every one agrees that this
type of special hospital is desirable, though it is believed by the
more advanced school of scientists that before long it may be happily
rendered obsolete owing to the discovery of methods of treatment which
will stay the disease at its commencement and restore the patient to
health.
_Children's Hospitals._--These hospitals were very much opposed at the
outset. There can be no doubt that the children's ward or wards in a
big voluntary hospital is a most valuable asset to the managers, so
long as the children are treated in separate wards. There is no reason
of course why a hospital should confine its work to the treatment of
children, exclusively. Still this special hospital is popular with the
public; it has led to many discoveries and developments in the
treatment of children's diseases; on the whole the administration of
these establishments has been good; and we believe they will continue
to flourish, however many children's wards may be provided in general
hospitals. Children's hospitals with country branches for the
treatment of chronic ailments, such as hip disease, are a valuable
addition to the relief of suffering in cities.