[Population inside hospitals: its evolution from old Maristans to modern hospitals].

Islamic foundations in the near and middle east in the VIIth to XIIIth centuries had two missions: the accommodation and the cure to sick people, and the training for future doctors. At the same time in the Christian world, hospitals were only pious inns. They became cure institutions for the poor in the XVIIth century, and devoted to teaching in the XIXth. The meaning of the word "hospital" has changed according to countries, periods and cultures.