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.

    300/542 (page 178)
    With these prelirainaiy remarks we are prepared to enter into the consideration of the questions propounded in your letter of inquiiy. The first question proposed in your letter, requesting opinions on the best plan for the construction of a hospital for city service, is the choice between thepavilioii system, which admits build- '' ings of two or more stories in height permanently constructed, of which the Herbert Hospital in England, and several in this country, may be considered good modern types, and the bar- '''•raclc system of one story structures, destructible in whole or in part, which were so successfully used in the late war, but of which no extensive and prominent example is now in opera- tion. Two subjects, not necessarily connected, are included in this question. A building of only one story may be easily destructi- ble, and designed for only temporary use, or may be more per- manent in its character ; and some of the arguments advanced in favor of the single stor}^ do not of necessity involve the question of its being destructible ; while the most permanent two-storied structure is susceptible of removal of the plaster and floors whenever necessary, and is thus made virtually a new building. One answer to both is spontaneously suggested by the term City in the proposition. A city hospital must be adapted to the requirements of city life, and must be constructed on the same principles as the city itself. Light, air, and space are essential to life; and a certain amount of each is absolutely necessary to existence. The more am]3le the supply of air and light and the wider the range of space enjoyed b}^ each individud.1, the more robust the health and the greater the enjoyment; provided in securing these, one does not sacrifice other interests, each also important, though not in the same degree. The healthy residents of a city are well aware of this, and as they possess the ability, avail themselves of the advantages of wider space to secure increase of light and air, and only abandon it to obtain other advantages. But the neceSoity of concentrating action, and combining in concerted effort for business purposes, compels a majority of them to sacrifice the comfort, and elegance, and superior advan-