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94
With reference to the existing Scarlet-Fever Pavilions,
I would remark:—
(a) They are within 6½ feet of one boundary, and 11
feet of another.
(b) They are over 30 feet high above ground, and
under 50 feet apart, whereas they should be,
according to recent experience, not less apart
than twice their height.
(c) Axially, they are East and West, so that one of
the internal side-walls, against which the beds
are placed, never gets any sun, whereas, wards
running North and South get sun on every
internal face of a wall, and, as sunlight is the
great purifier, the importance of this is great.
I recommend, without hesitation, the demolition of the existing
administrative buildings, on the following grounds:—
(I) They are insanitary in themselves, the laundry
consisting of rooms in the same block as living
and sleeping-rooms, etc., steam, and other
emanations from foul linen in the laundry, are
a source of danger to the staff as well as to
the patients in the adjoining wards.
(II) They are too near to the pavilions, and exclude
from the lower wards a great deal of sunlight
and fresh air.
In consequence of my observation of these things, I enquired of
the Medical Superintendent, and learned, as might have been expected,
that patients in this lower ward did not recover as rapidly as in the
other wards, and I understand cases of ophthalmia developed. How far
these latter arose from the evils noted would be interesting as a
subject of medical investigation.