Fourthly. That they should be very portable, and of the cheapest construction.
The mode in which it has been sought to comply with these conditions is as follows:—[186]
The whole hospital will consist of a number of separate buildings, each sufficiently large to admit of the most economical construction, but otherwise small and compact enough to be easily placed on ground with a considerable slope, without the necessity of placing the floor of any part below the level of the ground, or of having any considerable height of foundation to carry up under any other part.
These separate buildings have been made all of the same size and shape; so that, with an indefinite length of open corridor to connect the various parts, they may be arranged in any form, to suit the levels and shape of the ground.
Each building, except those designed for stores and general purposes, is made to contain in itself all that is absolutely essential for an independent hospital ward-room; so that, by the lengthening of the corridors, and the addition of any number of these buildings, the hospital may be extended to any degree.
To ensure the necessary comforts, and particularly to provide against the contingency of any cargo of materials not arriving on the spot in time, each building contains within itself two ward-rooms, one nurse’s room, a small store-room, bath-room, and surgery, water-closets, lavatories, and ventilating apparatus.
The ward-room is made wide enough and high enough to ensure a good space of air to each bed, even if these should be unduly crowded. Each building contains two ward-rooms, intended for twenty-six beds each, which is found in practice to be a size of room admitting of proper control and supervision.
With respect to closets and lavatories, after examining and considering everything that has been done, both in hospitals of the best description and poor-houses of the cheapest construction, it was found that the requisite security for cleanliness and the greatest amount of economy of labour, and of consumption of water, could be obtained by a cheap description of water-closet designed for the purpose; and with the same object of diminishing the amount of labour and the waste of water, and securing cleanliness without depending upon the constant attention of assistants, fixed basins for lavatories and mechanical appliances for supplying and drawing off water were adopted.
As a protection against heat, experience in hot climates and experiments made expressly for the purpose satisfactorily proved that a covering of extremely thin and highly polished tin, which reflects all direct rays of heat, was the cheapest, lightest, and most effective protection, and every piece of woodwork not covered with tin is to be whitewashed externally. Internally the lime-wash has a slight tint of colour, to take off the glare.[187]
To secure ventilation in a hot climate with low buildings extending over a large area, and therefore incapable of being connected with any general system of ventilation, it was considered that forcing in fresh air by a small mechanical apparatus attached to each building would be the only effective means. Each ward-room is therefore furnished with a small fan, or rotatory air-pump, which, easily worked by one man, is found capable of supplying 1,000 to 1,500 cubic feet of air per minute, or 20 to 30 feet for each patient. This air is conveyed along the centre of the floors of each ward-room, and rising up under foot-boards placed under the tables, is found to flow over the floor to every part of the room.