Every large city is compelled to provide a Quarantine, as a matter of self-preservation, especially seaport towns. The first measures for a Quarantine in New York were inaugurated by the passage of an act in 1758, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. By Act of May 4th, 1794, Governor's Island was made the Quarantine, and in March, 1797, a lazaretto was directed to be built on Bedloe's Island. The ravages of yellow fever led in 1799 to the purchase of thirty acres of land on Staten Island, five of which were ceded to the United States Government for warehouses, and on the remainder permanent quarantine buildings were erected. The first buildings were erected with the material taken from the demolished lazaretto on Bedloe's Island. In 1819, a long brick building was erected; in 1823, a fever hospital; in 1828-29, a smallpox hospital; and such subsequent additions were made as the wants of the Institution required. The great increase of population on Staten Island, and the return of yellow fever in 1856-58, many cases occurring in the vicinity of the quarantine, the long-cherished desire for its removal burst forth in a frenzy, of which the whole populace seemed to partake. On the evening of the 1st of September, 1858, the buildings were entered by the excited multitudes, the sick carried on their mattresses into the yards, and every building save the women's hospital destroyed by fire. This last-named edifice was destroyed the following evening, making the ruin complete.

Quarantine is now located on the east of Staten Island, several miles below Castle Garden, on artificial islands constructed for that purpose. The sick, until a year or two since, were kept in vessels stationed in the lower bay for that purpose. During 1869, the West Bank Hospital was completed at a cost of over three hundred thousand dollars. This is one of the largest and best-arranged quarantine buildings in the world. The foundation consists of crib-work of heavy timbers fastened together, filled with stone and sand, and sunk. The crib contains 15,000 cubic yards of stone, and 56,000 cubic yards of sand. The Hospital is a one-story edifice, divided into eight wards, each 89 feet long and 24 wide, and can accommodate fifty patients each. The Hospital is supplemented by other buildings, used as baggage house, wash-house, dead-house, and apartments for superintendent, physicians, nurses etc. The buildings are lighted with gas, and connected by telegraph with New York. During 1869, 213 vessels arrived from ports infected with yellow fever; and in 1870 no less than 365 such vessels, with at least 470 yellow fever patients on board. Thirty vessels carrying about 18,000 persons were detained at Quarantine, having small-pox, during 1870, and ten vessels with ship fever, yet so vigilant were the health officers that no panic occurred on shore, and none of these diseases spread in the city. Yellow fever, however, broke out in the autumn of the last year among the troops on Governor's Island, eighty-three of whom were prostrated and thirty-one died. The health and prosperity of the Metropolis are more largely dependent upon quarantine vigilance than many suppose. Another building for the detention of persons exposed to disease, while on passage in an infected vessel, has been commenced at West Bank, and a warehouse for the storage of infected goods will follow, making our Quarantine complete and unrivalled. The annual expense of this branch of our measures for public security, exclusive of permanent improvements, amounts to about $50,000. The Quarantine Commissioners have exclusive control of the Hospital, and are distinct from the Health Department of the city.