Notice that the patients in this picture include both children and adults. In the late nineteenth century, as the medical care of children began to emerge as a specialty, whether it was better to care for children in a separate ward or alongside adults was a frequent topic of discussion. The hospital’s 1881 annual report states: “The interest and sympathy [children] excite among the adult patients, their own buoyant spirits, if suffering is even for a moment allayed, and the power they exert in banishing from their fellow sufferers that listlessness and depression which are often the worst foes to recovery — constitute sufficient reasons why they should always be welcome as among the best of curative influences. They become the petted and indulged favorites of the ward; and the kindly attention they receive reacts upon their own condition and encourages their recovery.”