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43
It is the intention of the Board to erect new
permanent Hospitals for scarlet fever and diphtheria
patients at Shooter's Hill, Hither Green, and
Lower Tooting. "When these are completed, the
beds for diseases "other than small-pox," will
number 5,900, in addition to which there are the
Ships, and the proposed Land Hospital, for smallpox
cases. The Royal Commission of 1882 recommended
that 3,000 beds should be provided for
"fever" cases, and 2,700 for small-pox. At that
date diphtheria cases were not received into the
Board's Hospitals. The population of London in
1882 was 3,862,876, and in 1894, 4, 349, 166.
The question of floor and cubic space, etc., has
occupied the attention of a Committee of the Board
during the year. The minima recommended for
each bed were 104 square ft. of floor, and 8 lineal
ft. of wall. The spaces to be allotted to each
bed at the new hospitals are 156 sq. ft. of floor for
scarlet fever, and 195 sq. ft. for diphtheria and
enteric fever; and of wall, 12 ft. lineal for the
first disease, and 15 for the two others. It is
hardly necessary to say that much of the success
attending hospital treatment of infectious disease is
due to the benefits of free air space and ventilation.
Among the many items of interest included in
the Reports by the Medical Superintendents of the
Hospitals, Dr. Bird wood's notes on "return cases"
are perhaps the most interesting. The term "return