View report page

34
beautifully wooded, and the prospect "well calculated to stimulate
the recovering health of patients who had been subjected to the
depressing operation of small-pox." The Camp was distant 300
and 700 feet respectively from public roads on the western and
northern sides, and was well fenced. The schools were at a distance
of 800 feet, and the inhabited portion of the Adult Asylum 550 feet.
On the 11th May, 30 patients were received, and "batches of a
similar number continued to arrive until on June 9th there were
640 cases under treatment, 29 tents having by this time been
erected: the usual size of the tents, which were waterproof and
well ventilated, was 50 feet by 25 feet, and the average number of
patients in each ranged from 18 to 24. Each tent was detached,
being separated the one from the other by a distance of 50 feet."
They were, from their construction and the position of the encampment
admirably ventilated, having moreover double roofs and sides.
They were lighted with gas and supplied with hot and cold water,
and with earth commodes for night use: all excrementitious matters
were buried. Recreation tents, grounds, and games were provided
for each sex.
Dr. Gayton expresses a preference for "huts" as being more
suitable than tents for the treatment of convalescents at all seasons
of the year. In a great storm—May 15th and 16th—several of
the tents were greatly injured, but as there were only 200 patients
under charge, who were removed into the permanent administrative
block of the Asylum, the difficulty was surmounted. The patients
suffered a good deal from the intense heat July 15th: an extra
blanket or two enabled them to endure an opposite condition
of temperature later in the year.
The dietary was generous, "the tonic power of the Kentish air
sharpening the appetite very considerably." The patients did well,
but of course some of the sequelae of the disease had to be contended
with; and there were two deaths, one of an elderly woman, and
one (accidental) of a boy. "At the commencement of operations,
the question of leave of absence to the nurses threatened to be a
troublesome one, but a compromise, under which they were
granted one day's leave once a month on which they might go to
London, and a drive in the neighbourhood once or twice a week
during the intervals, was effected and proved a satisfactory arrangement."
A dance was allowed now and then, and generally Dr.