Many of the children are sent to the country to be nursed, and among them the mortality is said to be the greatest. There are several other foundling hospitals in Rome; the total number of foundlings is estimated at more than 3,000 annually, the facilities for admission being so great that children are brought from all parts of central and southern Italy. At Naples foundlings are chiefly cared for at the hospital della Anniui-ziata. There are in Naples annually about 2,000 foundlings out of a population in 1872 of about 450,000. Naples has the reputation of devoting more care to the education and welfare of foundlings than any other city of Italy. The number of foundlings in Tuscany is about 12,000 out of a population in 1872 of 2,100,000. A considerable number of the foundlings in Italy are supposed to be legitimate children abandoned on account of poverty. About one in 10 of the children is claimed by the parents; the majority are cared for during infancy and childhood, either in the hospitals or among the neighboring peasantry, who supply them with board at a small remuneration.When of sufficient age they are dismissed to support themselves, but in many of the hospitals they have some claim in after life on occasions of distress or sickness.

Many children carried to the foundling hospitals are accompanied by tokens. In the hospital degl' innocenti at Florence a piece of lead imprinted with a number is hung round the neck of each babe, in such a manner that it cannot be easily removed. By these means, and by other tokens, it is easy to obtain information, even at a late period, in regard to each child. Illegitimate children cannot be returned until the expenses are fully refunded. -There are foundling hospitals in Cadiz, Barcelona, and other Spanish cities, and several in Madrid. The girls brought up in the foundling hospital at Barcelona were formerly led in procession when of marriageable age, and any man who took a fancy to one of them might indicate his choice by throwing a handkerchief on his favorite girl, and marry her. The number of foundlings annually received in the principal hospital at Madrid is about 1,200. The hospital is chiefly served by sisters of charity. The infants are intrusted to nurses, and at the age of seven are transferred to the college of the desamparades (forsaken), where they receive instruction.

Some are sent to an asylum, where they are drafted to learn practical handicrafts, and this asylum is in a great measure self-supporting. In 1794 Charles IV. ordered that children of unknown parents should be considered legitimate and admissible to public office; that all who called them bastards should be punished; and that foundlings in case of judicial sentence should receive such punishments only as could be imposed upon privileged persons, like the nobility and other high classes. In 1800 there were 149 foundling hospitals in Spain, with 53,464 foundlings; the illegitimate births in 1859 numbered 31,-080.-In Portugal, where illegitimate births are much more numerous than in Spain, the number of foundlings is estimated at 77 annually to every 10,000 inhabitants. There are 21 foundling hospitals. The number of foundlings under care in 1860 was 33,500, about 16,000 being received annually, and the mortality was 50 per cent.-Among the first hospitals which educated foundlings in France was the Hotel Dieu of Lyons (1523). Francis I. founded a kindred institution in 1536. A few years afterward it became customary for sisters of charity to place foundlings at the entrance of the cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris, exclaiming: Faites bien a ces pauvres enfants trouves ("Extend your charity to these poor foundlings). They were accommodated in an asylum called la conche (the bed), at the expense of the dignitaries of the law and of the church.

The metropolitan see, the monasteries, and chiefly the hospital of the Holy Ghost, were called upon to contribute toward their support. The dispensation of this charity led to grave abuses. The women hired to take care of the children traded with them. Some were sold to sorcerers, for use in their art; others to beggars, who paraded them in soliciting alms. The asylum was transferred to another place, but the donations were not sufficient to support the institution. The children increased in numbers at a fearful rate. Lots were cast to decide which should have the benefit of education, and those who drew blanks were entirely neglected. Many lost their health or died from the deteriorated milk of sickly nurses. Those admitted into the asylums were almost all illegitimate or of unknown parents. A foundling department was established in 1563 in the hospital of the Holy Ghost, under the direction of the city of Paris, and managed by an association of priests. The children were well educated, many of the boys for the priesthood, and many of the girls were married and provided with dowries. But this hospital (which was suppressed in 1670) refused to receive illegitimate children.

St. Vincent de Paul pleaded the cause of the poor children who were excluded, collected funds, and in 1640 established a new institution for foundlings, with the assistance of philanthropic ladies, and with the cooperation of the king and the court. In 1670 it was converted into a public institution by Louis XIV., and was transferred to the rue de Notre Dame. Pteve-nues were assigned to it and taxes raised for its support, and the first president and procurator general of the parliament placed at the head of its administration. The number of foundlings received at this institution in successive periods of 22 years, from 1640 to 1793, was: 7,668, 14,101, 38,382, 40,437, 64,143, 114,729, 129,143; total, 408,603. More than one third of these children came from the provinces. Serfdom had ceased to exist, and the seigneurs took this means to rid their lands of abandoned children, as they could no longer draw profit from them. In 1779 parliament ordered the nobles to provide for the children found on their lands, and forbade their conveyance into Paris without special permits. After the revolution of 1789 the republic assumed the guardianship of foundlings. The terrorists decreed (July 4, 1793) that they should be called enfants de la patrie.