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54
patients than the Metropolitan Asylums Board could
provide, the proportions removed may be deemed, by
those believing in the utility of hospitals in limiting
the spread of infection, as satisfactory.
The demand for accommodation for scarlet fever
patients became so pressing in September that the
Asylums Board on the 12th of that month, adopted
the following resolution, on the motion of the
Chairman of the Board;
"That it be an instruction to the several Hospital Committees to at
"once confer specially with their respective Medical Superintendents,
"with a view to increasing temporarily during the existing pressure, the
"accommodation in the several hospitals, so far and to such an extent,
"as the Medical Superintendents feel they can do so without undue
"risks
Under ordinary circumstances such a decision
would imply a reduction in the allowance of cubic
space per patient, likely to prove prejudicial to his
recovery. Inquiry, however, showed that the normal
allowances in the Board's hospitals were so ample
that a considerable increase might take place in the
number of patients in most wards without " undue
risks." It appeals that the rule of the Board is to
provide 156 sq. ft. of floor space, and 2,028 cu. ft. of
air space for each scarlet fever patient, irrespective
of age. The standards laid down in the text books
are (for adults) from 100 to 120 sq. ft. of floor space, and
from 1,500 to 2,000 cu. ft. of air space, with a height of
ceiling of 12 ft. The larger allowance per patient
renders ventilation easier, and at the same time