Leith Hospital
Coordinates: 55°58′28″N 3°10′43″W / 55.9745269°N 3.1786133°W
Leith Hospital was situated on Mill Lane in Leith, Edinburgh, and was a general hospital with adult medical and surgical wards, paediatric medical and surgical wards, a casualty department and a wide range of out-patient services. It closed in 1987.
There was a hospital in Leith from 1614. The King James Hospital, in the Kirkgate, was named after King James VI, then aged five, in whose name a charter was given to the hospital. The hospital was demolished in 1822, although part of the wall can still be seen today, forming the boundary between the Kirkgate and south Leith Kirkyard.
It was another 30 years before the establishment known as Leith Hospital opened. When it did so in 1851, it could trace its origins to three other institutions.
The Humane Society (later the Royal Humane Society) had started in London in 1774 with the aim of affording" immediate relief to persons apparently dead from drowning". Within a few years, Humane Society branches had opened all over Great Britain and in 1788 premises and equipment were provided in Leith, at first in Burgess Close and Bernard Street and then in Broad Wynd. The society aimed to resuscitate those who had fallen into the harbour waters. This was achieved in a number of different ways but principally by warming the victims in the premises, at a fire which was supposed to be kept constantly alight for the purpose.
The room also contained a bath where heating the patient could continue. Other techniques used included artificial ventilation of the lungs using bellows, mouth to mouth resuscitation and electric shock stimulation.
In 1816 a dispensary was opened, also in Broad Wynd, at number 17, a few doors along from the Humane Society room. Founded by Dr. Andrew Duncan (1744-1828), the dispensary consisted of a consulting room, a small laboratory and a single bed. There the citizens of Leith could be offered medicines and medical advice.
...
Wikipedia