820 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

Rondthaler was ordained in 1865, and has since then been stationed in Brooklyn.

Under the head of Miscellaneous, are numbered, also, the First German, the German Evangelical, the Seamen’s Friend Society, the orthodox and Hicksite Friends (or Quaker) Societies, and some others, of which we have not succeeded in procuring sketches.

PART X. HOSPITALS, DISPENSARIES, ASYLUMS, BENEVOLENT AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS, ETC. HOSPITALS.

Brooklyn City Hospital. The first proposition, as far as can be ascertained, for the establishment of a hospital in this city was made by Dr. Isaac J. Rapelyea, in an inaugural address as president of the Medical Society of the county of Kings, delivered on the 13th of July, 1835.1 In compliance with his recommendation, a committee, consisting of Drs. Wendell, Rapelyea, Marvin, Fanning, Finck, Boyd and Mason, was appointed, who prepared and submitted to the society, at an adjourned meeting, convened on the 25th of the same month, at the Apprentice’s Library, a memorial to the common council. This memorial having been adopted, and signed by the president, secretary and members generally, was presented to the common council, but no immediate results resulted from the effort. Nearly four years passed away, when in 1839, an accident occurred which started a new train of impulse and efforts towards the establishment of this much needed charity. A gentleman from Buffalo, had his leg broken, by the collision of a wagon with the light wagon in which he was driving. The accident occurred in Fulton street, near the City Hall, and there was no public provision for cases of this kind nearer than the Alms House, at Flatbush, four miles distant. Cyrus P. Smith, Esq., witnessed the accident, and meeting the late Robert Nichols,2 a few moments later, they together had the stranger

1 Previous to this time, the only relief furnished to the sick poor of Brooklyn was through the superintendents of the poor, who supplied a physician, at a meagre salary, to visit them at their homes, and the inadequacy of his services were necessarily supplied by the practicing physicians of the place.

2 ROBERT NICHOLS was born on the 5th of May, 1790, in the city of New York, was educated in Connecticut; and, at the age of fifteen, entered the service of a French shipping merchant and afterwards became a clerk with Messrs. Tucker & March, ship chandlers. Subsequently, he assisted his father, formerly a merchant, but at that time in charge of the extensive stores and wharves belonging to Joshua