Institute, Rothschild Foundation

Paris (XIXth)—Institute, Rothschild Foundation. E. V. (publisher). Posted 27 (?) April 1908.

Adolphe (“Dolly”) de Rothschild (1823–1900) was the son of the founder of the Naples branch of the family, established in the 1820s by Mayer Amschel Rothschild’s fourth son, Carl Mayer Rothschild (1788–1855). Always more interested in the arts than business, he was bought out of the family partnership in 1865, a first in its history. He spent the rest of his life in Geneva and Paris. The (probably apocryphal) story goes that on one occasion, as he arrived in Geneva by train, a speck of coal injured one of his eyes and he was so impressed with the ophthalmologist who treated him, Jules-Auguste Barde (1841–1915), that he endowed an ophthalmological clinic for the free treatment of patients in Geneva. It opened on 5 October 1874. In his will, Adolphe de Rothschild then bequeathed the funds for a similar institution in Paris. The purpose-built premises on the corner of what is now Avenue Mathurin Moreau and Rue Manin (which runs along the western boundary of the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont) opened on 1 May 1905. With an initial capacity of 62 beds, the clinic was able to treat some 80,000 patients in its first year, not least by staying open in the evenings so that patients who could not miss work to seek medical treatment were able to attend.