Moved by these considerations, he decided forthwith to erect hospitals in all the cities of the empire. We do not know whether he acted upon this resolution or not, but it is a matter of record that St. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea (370–379 A. D.), founded in that city, which is about thirty miles distant from Jerusalem, a settlement composed of numerous dwellings that were devoted to the use of the poor and the sick. This institution was managed in an admirable manner, a special corps of physicians and nurses being assigned to the duty of caring for its inmates. At Edessa, the capital of Northern Mesopotamia, another hospital was founded in 375 A. D. The date of the establishment of the celebrated hospital at Djondisabour in Persia, of which mention is made elsewhere (see page 204 _et seq._), is not known. About the middle of the sixth century of the present era, Childebert I., King of the Franks and son of Clovis, founded at Lyons, France, the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital which has afforded shelter and comfort to thousands of human beings during the past fourteen hundred years, and which is in active operation at the present time; a hospital, too, which has served as a training school for a long line of distinguished physicians, surgeons and gynaecologists. It is an interesting fact that Childebert intrusted the management of this great institution to laymen (instead of the ecclesiastical powers). Finally, toward the end of the sixth century, Bishop Masona founded in Merida, Spain, a hospital in which Jews, slaves and freemen were received and treated on the same footing; and he laid down the rule that one-half of the moneys and other gifts received by the church was to be devoted to the maintenance of this institution. The list of hospitals and other charitable organizations which were established in these early centuries is very long, and it reveals the fact that in every known land there existed, throughout these years, a strong wish to give aid and comfort to the poor, the sick and the helpless. The Musulmans appear to have been as zealous as the Christians in promoting works of this kind; for the records show that in Bagdad, Cairo, Damascus, Cordova and many of the other cities which were under their control, they provided ample hospital accommodations. Indeed, one of the largest and most perfectly equipped institutions of this character of which the history of the Middle Ages furnishes any record, was that planned and constructed at Cairo, Egypt, in 1283 A. D., by the Sultan El Mansur Gilavun. While it was building, the workmen employed were not permitted to engage in any undertaking for private citizens, and the Sultan himself never failed to visit the spot every day during the progress of the work. The site chosen was that of one of the royal palaces, and in tearing down this structure, in order to make room for the new building, the workmen brought to light a large chest filled with gold and precious stones,