CHAPTER VII.

THE WARDS.

Arrangement, description, and diagram of a ward-Christmas decorations-Beds-Screens -Stamps- Bazaars-WallsFloors-"Tommies" - Brackets - Prescription-papersClothes-box-Bracket-chair and bed-table-Sisters of Mercy v. paid nurses-District visiting-Costume-Nurses' duties and costume-Wards for patients of a better class—Proposed alterations for provincial hospitals and dispensaries-Fourthyear men might be unpaid assistant medical officers.

We keep talking of hospitals, wards, sisters, and nurses; but as some of our readers may have not the least idea what they are like, perhaps we had better describe them. The wards are not alike everywhere; but the arrangement which seems most approved nowadays for a hospital in London, where space is so valuable, is that which contains forty beds, placed as shown in the diagram:

It consists of two large rooms, comprising the whole width of the pavilion of the hospital. The wall which separates them allows communication at the two ends, and has large openings in it close to the ceiling, opposite the windows, to insure ventilation for both rooms. The windows are made of very thick glass, and reach nearly up to the ceiling. The lower sash is seldom moved, but the upper sash is on a hinge, and opens inwards. The air passes in and is changed at the very top of the ward; the bad air goes out at the opposite window, and thus all draught below among the patients is prevented.

The fireplaces are at the middle of the partitionwall, so that the heat radiates from the centre of the ward; and if a good fire is kept up, the rooms do not feel cold, even at the farthest corner.

You enter from the corridor by the folding-doors, which sometimes have to be thrown wide open to allow patients to be carried in. Opposite these are smaller doors, at the other end of the room, leading to lavatories and other conveniences, which we need not explore to-day. Suffice it to say that the baths and so forth are on a scale of liberality which would astonish our ancestors, who used to think they provided for every contingency when they afforded you the means of washing about a square foot of you.

Each patient should have as nearly as possible 1600 cubic feet of air to breathe in, therefore each room which contains twenty beds should have at least the following dimensions :-length, 80 feet; breadth, 26 feet; height, 15 feet. These proportions give 1560 cubic feet to each bed.

But a low room well ventilated is much better than

a lofty one badly ventilated, and the beds must not be crowded together because a high room gives the requisite number of cubic feet vertically. No; in this case, as in Mr Disraeli's view of the suffrage, "lateral extension is imperative."

Low comfortable settees are on each side of the fireplace, opposite which stands the table at which convalescents dine, and on which are placed the medicines, basins for the doctors to wash their hands in, generally a flower-stand, and sometimes a small aquarium, which is a source of much pleasure to patients.

When the chaplain reads prayers, his lectern is placed between the two rooms, at the point marked by the asterisk, so that all can hear him, and join in the responses.

In hospitals we have not met with the prison difficulty. Patients are generally willing to listen to the Anglican chaplain, no matter to what sect they may belong; but if any Roman Catholic or Jewish patients wish for their own spiritual adviser, he is summoned at once to the side of the sick-bed. No proselytising by any one is allowed. The poor patients have enough to interfere with their convalescence already without troubling themselves about contro

versy.

Shelves for books, workboxes, and flowers are placed wherever convenient, and the walls are adorned with pictures presented by kind friends.

At Christmas, great pains are taken to ornament all the walls and furniture, and the symmetry with which everything is arranged produces a good effect, no matter how simple the decoration may be; not, however, that simplicity often prevails, for the inmates of each

ward keep up a good-humoured rivalry in making the most elaborate devices.

The walls and ceiling are very thick, and are covered with Parian cement, to prevent the absorption of noxious gases. The floors are stained brown, and polished with beeswax and oil for the same purpose. Hospital floors should never be washed with water, always with oil patients soon get used to the slippery boards, as we do when we go abroad.

A ward thus arranged, and kept in good order, looks very cheerful and cosy; but we shall never consider hospitals are complete until there is a day-room, as well as a dormitory and lavatory, to each ward.

The bedsteads are of iron, and stand against a ledge in the floor, about half a foot from the wall. This is to permit the ready removal of dust, and thus prevent its accumulation, which is sure to occur when the operation of "dusting a room" is not easily performed. To guard against dust also, there are no curtains; but when privacy is required, screens are placed round the bed. Some of these are covered with picture scraps; and it is much to be wished they were all so adorned, for poor invalids like something interesting for their eyes to rest on when they lie lonely, too tired to talk, too weak to read, too weary to think.*

It is true that to lie still and do nothing is perfect enjoyment to many poor people who have been terribly overworked, while pictures and toys are to some patients

* Patients are deluged with tracts, but they have not half enough newspapers. We believe that papers enough to supply all the hospitals in London could be easily collected by the railway porters, if passengers would leave for that purpose in their carriages the papers they were reading on their journey to town.

positively injurious; but the majority would derive nothing but benefit from the amusement afforded by picture-screens.

The most beautiful screen we have ever seen was made in this manner. It consisted of six large panels, joined together by hinges, each panel being about 5 feet high and 2 feet wide. In the centre of each was a large picture, either a portrait or a landscape, and this was surrounded by a multitude of small ones, exquisitely grouped; in fact, they were harmonised like the scenes in the web of Arachne, so that you could not tell where one ended and another began. The frame was of polished walnut, while the pictures were pasted on both sides of the canvas which filled up the panel. Pictures from the Illustrated London News,' prints, lithographs, and photographs were all used in it, and the whole varnished to protect it from the action of the air.

We have described this with such minuteness in order to provide young ladies with a more useful amusement than stamp-collecting. There are about a hundred and eighty stamps to the square foot, and at this computation many young ladies have collected stamps enough to paper a house of moderate size from cellar to attic. What is the use of the habit?

"Oh," we are always told, "I am collecting for a friend who has been promised a nomination to the BlueCoat School for her nephew if she can collect a hundred thousand stamps."

Other charities are sometimes named, but to all such suppositions we should reply, "Fudge!" The expression is strictly parliamentary; it was introduced by an "independent member," so we need not apologise for