Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/586

 476 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [Jan., clay, which is used just as dug out of the natural soil. This is mixed with water, and ground until it is thoroughly incorporated, and brought to the consis- tency of cream. It is then strained through sieves of fine silk lawn, so as to remove the smallest earthy impurities, and allowed to rest, until whatever earthy matter j-et remains subsides to the bottom of whatever vessel in which it is placed. After this, the water that maybe in the mass is drawn off. and the moisture got rid of by evaporation, until it becomes of a soft, plastic character, capable of being moulded into any de- sired forms. In this state, this plastic clay is pressed into an embossed plaster- of-paris mould, the pattern or design on it having a raised surface, and the colored figures, ornamentation, or letterings, as the case may be, remaining hollow. The squares being thus prepared, material of the same component parts, reduced to the consistency of cream, and colored with the desired oxides, is carefully poured into the interstices, or indenta- tions. The surface is then scraped quite flat, and all irregularities removed, until the pattern appears to be distinct, and as perfect as when designed. It then undergoes the process of firing, in which, as we have before said, the utmost caution and skill— only attainable from long experience and practice — are requi- site, in order to determine the exact limit to which it shall be carried. HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION. IT is an unaccountable fact, that, for centuries past, and up to a very recent day, the progressive course of science did not take in the crying neces- sities of hospital construction. Mor- tality was fearful and almost unheeded. Suffering humanity dreaded the ordeal of these pest-houses, falsely styled hos- pitals ; and many a constitution, that went in slightly disordered, came out, if it escaped at all, completely broken. This misery was chiefly owing to the want of proper ventilation, as well as of room. In fact, in days, happily now gone bj', the subject of ventilation, even in hospitals, was but very little known, and still less practised. Not that there were no fine buildings erected, but that they were few, and those few very de- fective, in a sanitary point of view. War, in our day, has called out a great deal of scientific experiment in hospital construction. Such was the case in the Russian, or War of the Crimea, the war in Italy and our own four years of con- flict in this country. But, the military hospitals temporarily erected, at that time, were peculiar to the occasion ; and, having ground to any extent for sites, possessed an advantage, in the matter of ventilation, which is unattain- able in large cities, where lots are limited in extent and unlimited in price. It is with these latter, we haA r e now to deal ; and, looking to the permanent location of our city hospitals, we must deal with their construction accordingly. Concentration of control is a very de- sirable point to be obtained, in all hos- pitals ; and that means neither more nor less, than the so centralizing the department of doctors, nurses, apothe- cary, &c, as to be equally ready for calls from any side. The cooking de- partment should be also governed by the same necessity. Narrowness of corridors should be carefully avoided. Every thing should be liberal — breadth, height, and accom- modation generally. In no case should the mere architectural effect of the ex- terior be permitted to interfere with the arrangement of the interior, and espe- cially not with the dimensions of the