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the Military Hospital o f Copenhagen in Tagensvej was taken over b y Rigshospitalet.
The first two hospitals for civilians were Frederiks Hospital from 17 5 7 and Almin
delig Hospital from 176 9 . These hospitals continued as respectively Rigshospitalet
(19 10 ) and Kommunehospitalet (The Municipal Hospital) (18 6 3).
Since then especially the Copenhagen hospital service has developed considerably:
1886 Vestre Hospital (later on called Rudolph Bergs Hospital), 19 0 1-0 2 Sundby Hos
pital, 19 0 3 Balders Hospital and 1 9 1 3 Bispebjerg Hospital.
A number o f private hospitals relieved the pressure on the hospitalservice o f Copen
hagen: St. Josephs Hospital 18 7 5 , Dronning Louises Bømehospital 18 79 , Diakonisse
stiftelsen 18 8 3 , St. Lukas Stiftelsen 1894 , Finsensinstituttet 1898 , St. Elisabeths Hos
pital 1905-65, Radiumstationen 19 29 and Ortopædisk Hospital 19 3 5 .
In 19 7 5 Hvidovre Hospital was opened. A t the same time Øresundshospitalet (built
as an isolation hospital in 18 78 ) and Rudolph Bergs Hospital were changed into nur
sing institutions.
Blegdamshospitalet was built in 18 79 as an independent isolation Hospital for
Copenhagen. In 19 7 4 it was incorporated as isolation ward o f Rigshospitalet.
Palgue
Plague was well-known from antiquity and is described even in the Bible. The most
violent epidemic we know o f is the Black Death about 13 5 0 , which reduced the popu
lation o f Europe by about a fourth. In Denmark epidemics o f plague have revaged
during the Middle Age and recent times. The last Danish epidemic was the one in
Copenhagen in 1 7 1 1 .
Plague is an infectious disease caused by yersinia pestis and transmitted by rat fleas.
It is primarily a zoonosis but can be transmitted to human beings. The disease is most
ly seen as bubonic plague. The special variant called pneumonic plague is passed direct
ly from person to person. Untreated both forms have high rates o f mortality, but trea
ted with modern chemotherapeutics they involve only a small danger.
In 1 7 1 1 Denmark was in the middle o f Store Nordiske Krig. The battle o f Helsing
borg was lost in 1 7 1 0 , and it was important to make no more concessions to the
Swedes.
All the countries at war were threatened by a plague epidemic, which in 17 0 9 - 17 10
was ravaging the countries along the south coast o f the Baltic Sea. It spread rapidly
with the troops to the north and reached Finland, Sweden and Denmark in 1 7 1 0 - 1 1 ,
while Norway escaped.
Before the epidemic in Copenhagen, Denmark was surrounded by plague, - North
Germany, Finland and Sweden having been hit first. Attempts to keep the disease o ff
Denmark were made b y prohibiting trade with plagueinfected harbours. Ships without
a bill o f health had to moor at special quarantine stations and be in a 40 days’ quaran
tine.
Already in 170 9 the Medical Faculty issued instructions on how to behave in case
o f plague.
The doctors o f Denmark were still divided into two groups o f completely different
educations: the surgeons with their apprenticeship-system and practical experience,
and the physicians who graduated from university with a wide theoretical knowledge.
Most o f the physicians and some o f the surgeons were immigrated Germans.
Also the vicars played an important part in the combating o f the epidemic. It was
their duty to report infectious diseases to the public authorities and to be spiritual ad
visers o f their parishioners in critical situations.
The plague started in Helsingør in the winter o f 1 7 1 0 - 1 1 and spread during the
spring and the summer to the capital. As soon as it was certain that the disease had
broken out a Health Commission was appointed, representing physicians, citizens,
the city council, the clergy and the navy.
The Health Commission worked on the principles o f seeking-out the sick and in
fected and isolating them. Two emergency hospitals were established: one in »Vod-
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