The foundling hospital originally formed part of the house of industry, the joint establishments being founded in 1704 under _the 2nd Anne, cap. 19_.[33] They remained so united until 1772, when the objects of the two institutions being deemed incompatible, they were as before stated placed under separate and distinct government by _the 11th and 12th George 3rd, cap. 11_.[33] The object of the institution is thenceforward said to be “the preservation of the lives of deserted or exposed infants, by their indiscriminate admission from all parts of Ireland;[34] putting them out to nurse in the country until they are of a proper age to be drafted into the hospital, and educating them there in such manner as to qualify them for being apprenticed to trades, or as servants, and thus rendering them useful members of society.”[35] Down to 1823 the institution was supported partly by a house-tax levied on the citizens of Dublin and its liberties and suburbs, amounting to between 7,000_l._ and 8,000_l._ annually, and partly by parliamentary grants, and the rent of a small property of 115_l._ per annum: but the citizens of Dublin were then relieved from the house-tax, and the sum of 5_l._ was required to be paid with every child on its admission to the hospital, by the overseers or the minister and churchwardens of the parish whence the infant was sent, no child being admissible whose age exceeded twelve months. The aggregate of these latter payments amounted to about 2,000_l._ annually, and the annual grants by parliament varied from 21,554_l._ in 1800, to 34,000_l._ in 1828. The number of admissions was 2,041 in 1800, 2,168 in 1806, and 2,359 in 1811, at which time the number of children remaining on the books of the institution was 6,498. ----- [33] Ante, pp. 35 and 45. [34] “Every child presented at the gate, or placed in the cradle, was immediately received, and taken to the infant nursery by a person appointed for that purpose.” See Warburton Whitlaw and Walsh’s History of Dublin. [35] See Parliamentary Return No. 2, ordered to be printed 21st March 1828. ----- [Sidenote: 1819. Report on the state of disease, and the condition of the labouring poor in Ireland.] In 1819 a select committee of the commons of which Sir John Newport was the chairman, was appointed to inquire into the state of disease, and also into the condition of the labouring poor in Ireland; and a Report on each of these subjects was presented to the house in course of the session, of which Reports the following is an abstract. [Sidenote: On the prevalence of fever.]