The hospitals of Puerto Principe, Cuba / by S.T. Armstrong.

  • Samuel Treat Armstrong
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The hospitals of Puerto Principe, Cuba / by S.T. Armstrong. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    should be afforded, as it is a continuation of the remedy granted by Spain for the confiscation of accumulated resources. The hospital premises occupy an irregular polyhe- dron that includes about three acres; and it is situated in the southern portion of the city, a short distance from a small stream called the Hatibonico River. The building fronts the northwest, facing a small square named for the hospital. The old church of the religious order occupies part of the north side of the premises, and two-story wards the east, south and west sides, an excellent arrangement that allows the build- ings used by the patients to have the best exposure. Originally the south wards was a two-story cloister that it was necessary to wall in so as to afiford more ward accommodation. The buildings are of brick, and the walls are remarkably thick; in places they are reinforced by massive buttresses that seem to be in- tended to resist enormous strain. There is consider- able weight on the walls due to the fact that the floors of the second story are paved with brick laid on a layer of sand six inches deep, and the roofs are tiled. The rafters, doors, windows, etc., are cedar. On entering the premises you pass into a cloister that surrounds three sides of the patio or courtyard, which contains a flower garden and the hospital cistern. The lower wards on the west side are small rooms floored with brick, lighted by small, iron-barred win- dows that are closed by unglazed shutters, as is the cus- tom in this country. In wet weather the shutters may have to be closed, so that light and ventilation must come through the door that opens on the corridor. The bricks are laid directly on the ground, as is the native custom, and there is neither sub-soil drainage nor ventilation. As the walls are laid without damp- proof courses they are wet for several feet above the level of the floor; the capillary attraction that occurs in walls in all houses in this city is remarkable—I have noticed the fluids from a privy-sink stain a house-wall for 40 feet above the surface of the soil. The conse- quence of this kind of floor and wall is that these wards are damp. The ceilings are the joists and boards that constitute the second-story floor. Originally these
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