Ought to be separate in every lying-in institution; must be separate in an institution of more than four or five beds, though in separate compartments.
Every delivery bed should have a superficial area of not less than 200 square feet, and a cubic space of not less than 2,400 cubic feet.
5. How many Windows to a Bed?
One at least to each bed. Two beds and two windows on each side of the four-bed ward.
In a single-bed ward the bed should not be placed directly between window and door. And it must never be in an angle. There must be room for attendants on both sides the bed.
This is still more essential in a delivery ward. Each bed should be lighted on both sides by windows, and should have at least five feet of passage room on either side.
6. What are healthy Walls and Ceilings and Floors?
Oak floors, polished; furniture also; impervious glazed walls and ceilings, or frequent lime-washing.
All that has been so justly said as to the necessity of impervious polished floors and walls for hospitals applies tenfold to lying-in institutions, where the decomposition of dead organic matter, and the re-composition of new organic matter, must be constantly going on.
It is this, in fact, which makes lying-in institutions so dangerous to the inmates.