Calendar: 1855-1856 Page 129

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT 125 XVII King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is situated in the densely-inhabited district which lies between the two great thoroughfares of Holborn and the Strand It is in the parish of St Clement Danes but receives Patients in large numbers from the sur- rounding parishes of St Giles St Mary-le-Strand St Andrew Holborn and St George Bloomsbury as well as from the populous parish of Lambeth It is also very largely resorted to by the poor from every part of London from the suburban districts and even from the country to the distance of many miles around the Metropolis It is well furnished with every means of practical instruction and all the Oilices are under the regulations of the "King's College Hospital Act 1851 conferred on Pupils of King's College The following Statement of the New Building published June 1855 is reprinted here for more general iniormation Some Account of King's College Hospital with Plan of the First Story of the New Building showing the part of the Building completed and occupied and distinguishing the parts still remaining to be built The Old Hospital From an early period after the opening of the Medical School at Kings' College London it was felt that an Hospital in connexion with the College was not less necessary to the success of the parent institution than Museums Laboratories or Lecture Rooms But till the year 1839 no opportunity offered itself of supplying this great want At this time the workhouse of St Clement Danes being no longer required by the parish arrangements were made by the College authorities for renting the building fund for etrecting the necessary alterations was raised through the exertions of Dr Todd acting as Honorary Secretary and the building was opened for the reception of patients in the spring of the following year An outline of this building is traced upon the plan and presents striking contrast to the spacious structure now in course of erection Though in many respects unsuited to the purpose to which it was applied it has answered well as temporary expedient and has been the means of affording relief to upwards of quarter of million of patients and oppor- tunities of professional experience to nearly thousand medical students The New Hospital The New Hospital of which the foundation stone was laid by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury on the 17th of June 1852 is designed for upwards of 200 beds but may without inconvenience or the slightest approach to over-