Here the passengers undergo another thorough examination by a medical officer, to see if any have escaped the notice of the Health authorities at Quarantine, and if so, they are immediately transferred by a steamer to the Hospitals on Ward's or Blackwell's Island.

He also selects all blind persons, cripples, lunatics, or others likely to become a future charge, and who by law are subject to special bonds.

After this examination is passed, the immigrants are conducted to the Rotunda, a large roofed circular space in the centre of the Depot, with separate compartments for the different nationalities. Here the name, nationality, former place of residence, and intended destination of each, with other particulars, are taken down.

Agents of the railroads are admitted, from whom tickets are procured to all parts of the country, also exchange brokers, who buy their foreign money. Boarding-house keepers of good character and licensed by the Mayor, are admitted to the Rotunda. All these persons are under the scrutiny of the Commission, rendering extortion nearly impossible. The depot also contains a telegraph office, by which the immigrant on landing can communicate with his friends in any part of the country without leaving the building; also a letter-writing department, with clerks understanding the different continental languages, who assist them in conducting their correspondence. A Labor Exchange bureau has recently been added, which during the year 1869 furnished employment to 34,955 immigrants free of charge. From registered entries made in 1869, of the avowed destination of immigrants, the following is a summary: 85,810 reported their intended destination to be the State of New York; 40,236 to be Pennsylvania and New Jersey; 15,613 to be New England; 10,061 to be the Southern States; 96,646 to be Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and California; and 8,822 to be Kansas, Nebraska, Canada, &c. The alien immigration during 1869 was 45,303 in excess of the previous year, and 75,399 greater than the average of several former years. In regard to the nationality of these arrivals, Germany, Ireland, and England show the same pre-eminence and in the same relative order that they have since 1865, the first named having sent, of the number landed in 1869, 99,604, Ireland 66,204, and England 41,090, while all other countries contributed 52,090.

Arrangements were early made to establish an Emigrant Fund, to provide for sick and destitute emigrants until they should be able to support themselves, and by their industry add to the general prosperity of the country. A capitation tax of two dollars is now collected of each and all landing by the Commissioners, one-fifth of which they are required to set apart as a separate fund, for the benefit of each and every county in the State, except the County of New York, to be divided once in three months among them according to their claims for the relief of disabled immigrants, the remainder to be used by the Commissioners in the construction and improvement of their buildings and grounds. On the 25th of May, 1847, the Commissioners leased three large buildings near Astoria, formerly occupied as the juvenile branch of the Almshouse department of New York, for a fever hospital and other purposes, but the inhabitants, incensed at the project, assembled in disguise and destroyed the premises on the following evening. In the following December, a portion of Ward's Island was leased, and subsequently one hundred and twenty-one acres of it were purchased, with the whole of the water front toward New York City. A hand ferry connects the island with New York at One Hundred and Tenth street. About twenty different structures have been from time to time erected. The Verplanck State Hospital is the chief building of interest in the group. It is constructed of brick, on an approved modern plan, and consists of a corridor 450 feet in length and two stories high, from which project five wings, 130 feet long and 25 wide, each two stories high except the central, which is three stories. This building is used exclusively for patients suffering with non-contagious diseases, and surgical cases. The corridors afford ample room for the exercise of convalescent patients. The corners of each wing are surmounted with towers containing tanks for water, which is distributed to the bath-rooms and closets attached to each ward, Projecting from the corridor, in an opposite direction from the wings, is a fire-proof building which contains three boilers and the engine. A large fan, 14 feet in diameter, drives the hot air through 60,000 feet of pipe to all the departments of the Hospital, and the same power secures a cool current through all the sultry season. Adjoining is the cook-room with eighteen steam kettles and ranges, where the cooking for all the buildings is done. Above is the bakery with four ovens, with a capacity each of 300 loaves of bread, also the wash-room with sixty-three tubs, and machinery for washing and wringing the clothing. This Hospital has accommodations for 350 patients, and often affords sleeping accommodations for the Refuge inmates.