Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/846

 084 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [May, closed inside by light blinds of black walnut, arranged in several folds. The walls are of brick, enclosing an air-space to protect the interior from the influences of sudden changes of tem- perature, and are of great thickness. Within the inner wall a series of tubes about one foot square is constructed ; one for each bed. These are lined with a cement as hard and as polished as marble. Three openings about ten in- ches square, are made from the interior of the ward into each of the ventilating tubes; one at the floor, beneath the bed of the patient, the second about three feet above the patient's head as he lies in bed, and the third at the ceiling. Each of these apertures is controlled by reg- isters. The lower one is large enough to contain a night-vessel, and a tube may be carried from the night chair, when in use, to the lower aperture, and by this means all effluvium into the ward is avoided. The walls throughout the whole hos- pital are covered by the same admirable cement as that which lines the venti- lating tubes. This cement is composed wholly of lime and sand without a par- ticle of plaster or sulphate of lime. It is expensive and difficult of application, requiring two or three times the amount of labor necessary for the mixture of lime, plaster and marble dust, commonly called hard finish. The expense of this cement is, however, more than compen- sated by its remarkable adaptation to hospital purposes. It will absorb no vapors or effluvia, and can be washed without injury as readily as a piece of marble. It cannot be scratched by the nail, and scarcely with a pen-knife, and it grows harder with age. The floor is of beech and birch wood, waxed, laid in strips about two inches wide. The doors, and all other wood work, in and about the ward, are of the hard woods of the country, finished in the same manner. In fact there is not a particle of paint inside of the building. At the end of the pavilion a fine stone staircase, six feet wide, gives access to the wards from the lower floor. The steps are of a close blue stone, which does not wear smooth, and they are of such solidity that scarcely any noise or reverberation occurs, no matter how many ma}' be ascending the stairs at a time. The well-room of this main stair- way is about seven feet square, amply sufficient to contain a lift for patients when required. At the other end of the pavilion there is a smaller staircase also of stone, and equally fire-proof, giving access to each story, useful for the ser- vice of the ward, and providing away of escape in the very improbable contin- gency of a fire cutting oft' the main stairs. The nurses' room is a handsome apartment just outside the ward and near the head of the main stairwa}'. It has a window opening into the ward, commanding a full view of every part of it. It also contains ample closets for holding the necessary linen and bedding and apparatus of the ward ; opposite to it is a large drying closet, heated by steam, in which mattresses can be baked and linen thoroughly dried and aired before use. Next to this is a small kitchen, provided with a range and gas, very ample for all the usual wants of the wards in making infusions and keeping warm the food of very sick patients, and in case of need, capacious enough to do all the cooking that would be required if the ward were filled with patients ; so that in case of necessity, the ward could be wholly isolated from the rest of the hospital, and filled with patients suffering from contagious disease, without any risk to those in the other parts of the building. Adjoining this kitchen is a dining- room for convalescent patients ; a lux- ury that exists only in some of the latest and very best hospitals. At each end of the ward are water- closets and urinals ; four at one end, two at the other. All pipes, of eveiy description, which