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Ten thousand dollars was awarded by the State of New York, provided the Infirmary would be able to raise $20,000 by subscription, and another $10,000 was added for the total purchase of the land and construction costs. On April 25, 1856, a four-story brownstone on 13th Street and Second Avenue, in what was then a very fashionable neighborhood, was purchased (Fig. 6). There were first-floor clinics and 40 to 50 inpatient beds. Minutes from meetings in 1858 and 1859 mentioned the terms outdoor patients and indoor patients. In 1857 the Infirmary was open 5 days per week, with 2 days fully devoted to ear diseases. In 1862 the first house surgeons was appointed, although teaching always had been performed. Training was in both eye and ear diseases. The arguments for the growth and existence of the Infirmary continued and were reviewed by Dr. Delafield in his address at the dedication of the new building of the New York Eye Infirmary on April 25, 1856. He said: "The public seems to forget that the comparatively small sums necessary to sustain these charities [infirmaries and dispensaries] save thousands upon thousands [of dollars] in the way of taxes for support of alms houses, blind institutions, etc…. Thus the rich, in contributing to the support of this and other kindred charities, benefit not only the poor but indirectly themselves by affording opportunities to those who may one day become their own medical advisors to fully qualify themselves for their professional duties." 14 The lectureships established in the Infirmary in 1823 were probably the first organized efforts at teaching ophthalmology in the United States, which in part helps explain why Drs. Rodgers and Delafield are often considered the "fathers of American ophthalmology," a term first used in 1850 by Dr. Edward Reynolds, their friend and founder of the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary. Edward Delafield was founder and first president of the American Ophthalmological Society in 1864. Although Drs. Delafield and Rodgers actions since 1816 spoke for their belief in specialization, their string convictions as to the need for specialized eye and ear care were articulated in Delafield's dedication address for the New York Eye Infirmary building: "But I may be asked why should the surgery of the eye and ear be separated from the main body of the science? Why should a distinct infirmary be established for the relief of those who suffer under diseases of these organs? And why should a separate course of lectures be thought necessary to teach their nature and treatment?... Take also the general fact, which is incontestable, that no progress was made in the pathology and treatment of these diseases until they began to be taken up separately and distinct charities founded for their treatment." 14 He used the London Eye Infirmary as his model: "No human being can possibly be thoroughly versed in every part of our science and art ... he may be an excellent general practitioner, but he cannot equally well treat every difficult case he may meet with ... but I would by no means advocate the entire separation of this or any other class of diseases from the general practice of medicine. All experience has shown that individuals who have never pursued the general practice of medicine and surgery and who have abandoned it and devoted themselves to [eye] surgery alone ... have generally degenerated into empiricism." 14
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