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From the genesis of hospitals in the United States, which began with Benjamin Franklin as one of the moving spirits in the establishment of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in 1751, one finds in this book a study of the broad development of hospitals which proceeded from this beginning to the present day, when there are 6,655 hospitals. As late as 1873 there were only 178 hospitals listed for bed care in this country. Between 1873 and 1946 an unusual story is told in facts, figures and charts, which shows the growth and development of hospitals.
The expansion of hospital facilities in the last fifty years has exceeded severalfold the increase in population and is the result of the phenomenal development of medicine and surgery, the growth in wealth and the urbanization of the country. Although many types of hospitals have been created, the general hospital occupies the center of