OUR public hospitals are open for the reception of such patients as entertain a reasonable hope of recovery or relief. Were incurables to be admitted indiscriminately, their wards would soon be filled to repletion, and the masses for whom they were designed would be hopelessly excluded. The general provision made by the city for incurables on Blackwell's Island is entirely insufficient for the wants of the community, leaving ample scope for the exercise of private charity. Many incurables not dependent on charity also prefer the quietude of a private "Home," where the ministrations of religion may be regularly enjoyed. The Protestant Episcopal church of New York has the honor of organizing the first society for the establishment of such an Institution in the country. The certificate of incorporation bears date of April 4th, 1866. A board of twenty-four managers annually elected are charged with the administration of the affairs of the society, and any person approved by a majority of the managers may become an annual member on the payment of ten dollars, a life member by the payment of one hundred dollars, or a life patron by the payment of one thousand To secure to the patients greater quietude, purity of atmosphere, and sunlight, the Home was located in the country. A wood dwelling, with choice surroundings, situated at West Farms, two and a half miles above Harlem, Bridge, was first leased and afterwards purchased by the so-ciety, and is still occupied for the Home. The residence of the superintendent and chaplain, who is an Episcopal clergyman, stands in the rear of the home. Though the Insitution is under the management of the Episcopal church, some charity patients have been admitted from other denominations, and pay patients come when they can be admitted, from all classes of orderly people. All admitted are said to be taken for life, yet the physician's annual reports give the number of those "withdrawn" and "discharged,"—probably those who have unexpectedly recovered. Persons are taken who are afflicted with any incurable disease at any age, but with few exceptions those thus far received have belonged to one of these three classes—paralytics, subjects of malignant diseases, and consumptives. Several dreadful cases of cancer, attended with indescribable sufferings until vitality has been devoured, have been treated at the Home, and the society has found a compensation in the fact that these were cases to which no other hospital offered a suitable asylum. The Home was opened June 8th, 1866, and during the first year seventeen male and sixteen female patients were received, of whom four died and three withdrew, leaving twenty-six under treatment. At the close of the second year twenty-eight remained. During the year ending June 8, 1869, fourteen had been admitted, eight had died, five relieved or discharged, while twenty-nine remained. Seven or eight have since deceased, and as many more have been received. In May, 1869, a cottage a short distance from the Home was hired and soon filled, one of the managers generously presenting his own check for the entire rent. Most institutions boast of the numbers admitted and sent away in triumph, but this, from the peculiar nature of the charity, can mention only the few who, though far beyond hope of recovery, are so nourished and watched over that life is protracted for months and sometimes years. Pay patients are admitted for six dollars per week, unless separate rooms are taken, when the price is increased to eight or ten.

The Home, considering the limited number received, has been an expensive charity, the patients being for the most part helpless, requiring constant attention and a varied and liberal diet. The expenditures of the Home the first year amounted to $6,849.29, toward which the pay patients contributed $1,844. During the year ending June 8, 1869, the expenditures, including some increase of furniture and small repairs of buildings, amounted to over $14,000, toward which the pay patients contributed $3,343. The report at close of year, June 8, 1870, showed that besides covering all past expenditures the society had an invested fund amounting to $36,000. The society has neither solicited nor received assistance from the public treasuries, but has been generously remembered by private Christian charity. A single donation from Messrs. Henry and Chauncey Rose amounted to $30,000. From the estate of Peter Lorillard $2,500 have been received, besides. numerous smaller sums from many friends of the enterprise: During the last year forty-five patients have been in the Institution, of whom thirty remain. The report of 1869. appealed for $100,000 to enable the managers to so enlarge the Home as to accommodate one hundred patients. The last report follows in the same strain, recommending the erection of a large hall for the aged. The Institution should be enlarged, and doubtless soon will be.