ld sow for food, the
sick and feverish woman pleaded with the doctor to take her to his home
for the lying-in period. The doctor argued that the house could be made
warmer, suggested that neighbors bring in food, and protested that he
had only one room fit for such occupancy and that he and his wife used
it. Dr. Lee said he would not give up the room for anyone in Virginia.

Offering the opinion that the room was large enough for her, Dr. Lee,
and his wife, the expectant mother had her servant take her by boat to
Lee's where she remained, taking great quantities of medicine, until
she delivered. The doctor then had to bring suit to collect his fees.

Another example of a medical man's housing the sick, is that of a
surgeon promised 2,000 pounds of tobacco and "cask" if he cured the
blindness of a person he had housed--but only modest compensation if he
failed. The same surgeon received 1,000 pounds of tobacco in 1681 by
order of the vestry of Christ Church parish for keeping "one Mary
Teston, poore impotent person."

Much earlier, Virginia had what some authorities consider to be the
first hospital built in America. While the colony was still under the
administration of the London Company (1612), a structure was erected
near the present site of Dutch Gap on the James river to house the
sick. The hospital, which had provisions for medical and surgical
patients, stood opposite Henrico, a thriving outpost of the settlement
of Jamestown.

Evidence that the building was primarily designed for the sick and was
not simply a public guest house is to be found in the statements of
contemporaries. One described it as a "retreat or guest house for sicke
people, a high seat and wholesome air," while another wrote that "here
they were building also an hospitall with fourscore lodgings (and beds
alreadie sent to furnish them) for the sicke and lame, with keepers to
attend them for their comfort and recoverie." The use of the word
"hospital," which had then a general sense, does not indicate any
similarity to a present-day hospital as does the other information.
Nothing more appears about this establishment for the sick and wounded,
and it may well have been destroyed during the Indian uprising of 1622.

Plans for similar institutions in each of the major political and
geographical subdivisions of the colony came from the London Company.
Unlike the Henrico structure, these buildings bore the name "guest
house" and were to harbor t