Hospital plans : five essays relating to the construction, organization & management of hospitals / contributed by their authors for the use of the Johns Hopkins hospital of Baltimore.

  • Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hospital plans : five essays relating to the construction, organization & management of hospitals / contributed by their authors for the use of the Johns Hopkins hospital of Baltimore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to be sminoiinted hy large iron tanks, to wliicli the water may be elevated by engines, located in the Hospital grounds or build- ings, if the water-works of the city of Baltimore have not suffi- cient force to accomplish this result. AETIFICIAL LIGHT. The Hospital grounds and buildings should be supplied with the ordinary gas, which is the safest, cleanest, and most efficient means of illumination. The gas-pipes and gas-meters should be so arranged as to admit of frequent and efficient inspection. SUNLIGHT AND HEAT. The axis of the wards of the Hos]3ital should be so located as to secure the largest possible amounts of the sun's light and heat. The location of the Hospital should also to a certain ex- tent be regulated by the direction of the prevailing winds. BUILDING MATEEIALS. Permanent hospitals should be constructed upon the most substantial principles. The materials for the foundation, walls, and floors should be either brick, stone, or iron, or a combination of each. Of all building materials, granite is the most durable. The materials and plan of construction should be such as to render the Hospital buildings j^re-^roo/. The walls should be of impermeable material, such as Parian cement, or of colored tiles, or large porcelain or glazed earthen- ware slabs, joined perfectly by a good cement. It is impossible that any absorption of poisonous animal matters should occur, with walls formed of glazed tiles or slabs. The floors should be constructed of fire proof materials, and covered with glazed tiles or slabs, which may be covered witli good oil-cloth, or material of the like kind, which will not absorb organic matters and gases, and which will lessen the necessity of washing the floors, and which might be frequently removed and washed. Without doubt, wooden buildings serve an excellent purpose, in time of war, and in great emergencies ; but the objections to the construction of permanent liosi^itals of wood are :—