Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/455

Rh have had a short stout pile of creosoted wood. The brick piers involved bricklayers and bricks and mortar, and the provision of these meant delay in some cases. The framework of walls, roofs and floors was mainly red fir of market scantlings, but the multiplication of these scantlings caused a famine in the market and much complaint. Yet it is hard to see how this could have been avoided, except by using a material more costly, or else by taking more time in con- struction. A light steel framework was used in some cases, with uled metal plastered on one side, and sheet iron painted in the interior of the room, but this was costly compared to timber. For lining match-boarding and 3-ply timber were used. Asbestos sheets

FIG. ii.

were used at first but were found very brittle unle_ss the backing of timbers was fairly (say 18 in.) close, and " S X boarding " and similar fibrous matter was also employed, but not found suitable.

The floors were in most cases of planking, grooved and tongued.

In France excellent sectional huts were made up by French work- men, and the carpentry was somewhat on different lines to that employed in England, lighter scantlings in roofs and subsidiary ties and struts being used. Many of the sectional huts there had the sides at a slight angle to the vertical, the sloping side forming like a " mansard " roof, part of the truss supporting the roof-covering.

Hospitals. It was pointed out in the earlier article that military hospitals, where built permanently, are designed on much the same lines as those in civil life.

During the decade before the World War there were two large permanent hospitals built for military needs, at Ports- mouth and Dublin, but there were many small " reception stations " for examination, observation, accidents, etc., and one fairly big hospital for women, built of light construction, and found to be most satisfactory in every way.

When the war broke out in 1914 the whole question of suitable hospital design came necessarily into great prominence, and the following were the main points which were then settled. ( The wards should contain 25 beds, i.e. 24 ordinary cases and one special case in a separate small room ; (ft) the nurse's duty room should be adjacent to the entrance to the main ward, divided by the central passage from the special-case ward; (c) beyond the nurse's duty room should be the ward scullery and on the opposite side of the central passage the linen cup- board; (d) beyond this a transverse passage so as to give dear ventilation between the foregoing parts of the ward and the ablution and bath-rooms, which come then at the end of the hut nearest to the main entrance.

This gives a hut 140 ft. long by 20 ft. 8 in. wide (see fig. 13). Of the total area a little more than one-fourth is taken up by accessory accommodation, and it is doubtful whether as much as one case out of 2i requires to be specially treated. However, the above represented what may be called the nucleus typical ward, and hundreds were erected either exactly the same as this or with minor modifications, both in England at the large training-centres, and in France in the area occupied by British troops.

The administrative offices, which are always an important adjunct in a hospital, were combined in a hut 160 ft. by 28ft., shown in fig. 14. At one end is the out-patient department with consulting- room, waiting-room and dispensary, divided by a corridor from the offices of the principal medical officer, his clerks and registrars, beyond which are the offices of the matron, nursing sisters' duty room, and clinical laboratory. At the rear of these are the orderly medical officers' room and the medical board room.

In the field there was in some cases a reception block where all wounded cases were brought, given temporary treatment, food, etc., and examined by the medical officers prior to being sent to one or other of the special wards for surgical attention, etc.

In a typical operation hut, 51 ft. bv 36 ft., a wide double door, to admit a stretcher, leads into a hall, from which open on one side a Rontgen-ray room, an anaesthetic room, and the operation room, while on the other side are the sterilizing-rooms, preparation room, store and photographic rooms. The patient, after X-ray examination, is taken into the anaesthetic room and thence, when unconscious, into the operation room, about 20 ft. square, with windows opening to the north.

The hospital arrangements in the field varied in some nature of detail, but the same general principles were followed.

Hospital kitchens were based on the knowledge that, while some patients could come to a dining-room, there were many who would

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