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MEMORANDUM ON HOSPITALS FOR INFECTIOUSDISEASES.

THE Medical Department of the Privy Council has issued an important"Memorandum on Hospital Accommodation to be given by Local Autho-rities" for the reception of cases of contagious and epidemic disease. It

points out that the 37th section of the Sanitary Act of 1866 gives to localauthorities the power to provide temporary or district hospitals, and anyjustice can order any person suffering from a dangerous infectious disease,if without proper aceommo lation, to be removed thither. The Memorandumis intended for the assistance of health authorities who have not yet pro-vided proper hospital accommodation for infectious diseases, but who oughtto make such provision so as to be prepared for emergency. The followingrecommendations are made:-As regards villages, each village ought to have the means of accommo-

dating instantly, or at a few hours’ notice, say, fonr cases of infectious dis-ease in at lea-it two separate rooms, without requiring their removal to adistance. A decent four-room or six-room cottage, at the disposal of theauthority, would answer the purpose. Or perm.nent arrangement might bemade beforehand with trustworthy cottage-holders not having children, toreceive and nurse, in case of need, patients requiring such accommodation.Two small adjacent villages (if under the same nuisance authority) mightoften be regardt d as one.When, in a village, such provision as this has been made by the authority,

and cases of disease in excess of the accommodation occur, the sick mustnot be crowded together, but temporary further provision must be made forthem. The most rapid and the cheapest way of obtaining this further accom-modation may often be to hire o’her ueighbouring cottages; or, ill defaultof this, ten’s or huts may be erected upon adjacent ground.In tow"s, hospital accommodation for infections diseases is wanted more

constantly, as well as in larger amount, than in villages ; and in towns thereis greater probability that, room will be wanted at the same time for two ormore infectious diseases which ought not to be treated in the samc ward.The perma.neut provision to be made in a town, in order to obtain reason-able security against the spread of infectious diseases, should consist of notless than four rooms, in two separate pairs ; each pair to receive the sutterersfrom one infectious disease, the men and women of course separately. Thenumber of permanent beds to be supplied must depend upon various cir-cumstances, chiefly upon the size of the town. For a town of any import-ance, the hospital provision ought to consist of a permanent building, hav-ing around it space enough for the erection of temporary structures as occa-sion may reqnire. Considerations of uttimate economy make it wise to havethe permanent building equal to somewhat more than the average neces-sities of the place, so that recourse to temporary extensions may less oftenbe wanted. In small towns, for instance, if a hospital, consisting of fourwards and the necessary administrative offices, is to be provided, the originalexpense of making each ward serve for (say) eight persons, will be far lessthan double that of making the wards for four. And in any case it is well tomake the administrative offices f-omewhat in excess of the wants of the per-manent wards; because th is, at little additional first cost, they will beready to serve, wh’’n occasion comes, for the wants of the temporary extell-sions, and so to save great ineonvemeace and outlay.In erecting these hospitals, it is advised that they be made readily acces-

sible, and placed in open parts; that 2000 cubic feet of ward space be giveneach patient, with 144 square feet of floor for each bed; that the temperatureof the ward be kept at 60° F. in winter, and the ventilation be good ; thatmeans be afforded for thoroughly disinfecting all excremental matters, linen,and bedding, and for securing absolute cleanliness.Additional accommodation should be obtained in emergencies by the use

of tents or huts erected on dry ground, with good scavenging and seweragearrangements.As to Ituts. Dryness of site is, as in the case of tents, of the first import-

ance. Each hut should be trenched round. Its floor should be raised a footor a foot and a half from the earth, so as to permit the free under-passageof air; hut care must be taken to prevent the lodgment of moisture or im-purities beneath the floor. A distance not less than three times the heightof a hut should intervene between any two huts, and each hut should be soplaced as not to interfere with free circulation of air round other huts. Inhuts, as in permanent bniidings for the treatment of infectious diseases, notless than 2000 feet cubic space, with 144 square feet of floor, should be givento each patient. Tt)e ventilation of huts, also, is of equal importance withthat of permanent hospital buildings. It is best secured by the combinationof side-windows with roof-opening, the latter protected from rain, and run-ning the whole length of the ridge of the roof. The windows, capable of

being opened top and bottom, should not be fewer than one to each pair ofbeds, or ill large huts one to each hed, nor should be of less size than thesash-window in common use for houses. The ventilating opening beneaththe ridge may have flaps, movable from within the tent by ropes andpulleys, so that the opening to windward can be closed, if necessary, in highwinds. Double-walled wood huts may hive additional ventilation by theadmission of air beneath this outer and in ler wall, and its passage into theinterior of the hut through openings with movable covers at the top ofthe inner lining. The roof should be overed wi’h waterproof felt; theedges of the felt fastened down by strips of wood, not by nails. The hutshould be warmed by open fireplaces, fixed in brick stove-stacks placed inthe centre of the fluor, the flue being carried through the root’.We refer our readers for further particulars to the Memorandum, which is

accompanied by several diagrams of , roposed temporary buildings for eightpatients of each. sex having the same infectious disease, and alto of double-cased huts. No mere description will give so good an idea of these buildingsas these representations.

ON DISINFECTION.THE following Minute on Disinfection is now being circnlated in

Oxford:-"Rooms can be disinfected by burning brimstone in them. Doors,

chimneys, and windows must be shut whtist this is being done; and anyclothes or carpets belonging to su h rooms may, previously to further dis-infection (fur which see below), be with advantage spread out on ropes in

such rooms during the process. No disinfection of this kind is thorough ifa man can live in the room whilst it IS going on.

" warerelosets, privies, cesspools, and drains can be disinfected by cop-peras (sulphate of iron). Carbolic acid can be used with advantage in corn-pany with, or after, but not without, copperas. A certain quantity of dis-infectant will disinfect only a certain quantity of foul matter, and disinfectionis imperfect till all " hot" smell or alkaline reaction is abolished. For thedisinfection of a cubic foot of filth half a pound of copp ras dissolved in acouple of quarts of soft water is sufficient. The daily addition by each indi-vidual using a privy or watercloet ot two-thirds ot au ounce of solid copperasto such privy, or one-third of a pint of the above solution to such watercloset,will keep it wholesome if any aecumulation of filth which it may contain ormay communicate with has been previously drstufeu ed according to thedirections given above. Czrbolte acid, which need not be chemically pure,can be used atter the addition of copperas till the pl.ce smelts s;rougly ofit. It should be used in the fluid state, its combinations with lime andmagnesia having an alkaline reaction, and bemg therefore unsuitable forthe present purpose. It may be diluted by being snjken up with twentytimes its vulume of water, and it poured from a wateriug-pot with a rose-nozzle over the sides of a recently emptied pr vy or cesspool will do greatgood. Sawdust or sand, strongly impregnated with carbullc add, may beused for this putpose. Cbluraium (solution of chloride of’ aluminium ofsp. gr. 1160) will acidify ordmary sewage aud destroy its living organismswhen added in the proportion of 1 p.trt to 40. It may be expected, therefore,to act as a disinfectant. This cannot be said of chloride t lime. All water-cløsets and privies should, when epidemics of cholera or typhoid may beexpected, be disinfected, whether they be offensive or not. It is well at suchperiods to avoid using any such convelllences which have not been dis-infected, especially if, as at hotels and railway stations, they ma) have beenused by pel sons from infec ed localities. All the conveniences mentionedneed ventilating as much as living-rooms do." Body- and bed-clothea should be disinfected either by immersion in

Burnett’s solution (of chloride of zinc), diluted in the proportion of a pintto a gallou of water, and kept in a glazed earthenware vessel, or by pro-longed boiling.

" Woollen clothes may be disinfected in an oven by a temperature of250’ F."It is well to burn anything infectious which we can afford to burn."

Notes, Short Comments, and Answers toCorrespondents.

THE STUDENTS’ NUMBER OF THE LANCETwill be published on Saturday, September 9th. Those

gentlemen holding official situations connected with MedicalInstitutions in the United Kingdom, who have not yet for-warded the necessary information to our Office for publica-tion in that Number, are earnestly requested to send itwithout delay.

POLLUTION OF RIVERS.THE President of the new Local Government Board will not be able to com-

plain of any narrowness in the scope of his administration. According toa reply given by Mr. Bruce last week in Parliament, the subject of riverpollution will pass into the hands of the new Board, to be dealt with,presumably, as part of the great sanitary problem awaiting solution at itshands. It is to be hoped that this transfer will not involve delay in theadoption of the general measures necessary for putting a stop to the pol-lution of rivers and streams, which in so many parts of the country hasbecome a source of widespread miseiiief. The case of the river Derwent,to which a correspondent of The Tirres the other day drew attention, isbut the sample of a very large bulk, as the Reports of the Rivers Pollu-tion Commission abundantly testify. Enough evidence has surely nowbeen collected to establish the enormous extent of the evil; at.d as theCommissioners appear to be satisfied about the nature of the remedies re-

quired, another session ought not to be allowed to pass without the adop-tion by the Legislature of some course which will protect populationsagainst the discharge of sewage and other noxious matters into rivers orstreams from which their water-supply is obtained.

Mr. John Russell, (Neath.)-We beg to refer our correspondent to Glenn’sPoor-law Orders, page 205, form 6, &c., where he will obtain all the in-formation as to the powers and duties which it is desirable that he shouldknow.

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THE communication of Dr. Lownds shall be inserted next week.

A PBBVBJTTIVB OFRUST.

To the Editor q{’fHB LANCET.

SIR,-I beg to inform "A Country Surgeon" that the following will pre-vent rust on alt steel articles :- rake equal quantities of strong mercurialointment and spermaceti ointment, and mix well in a mortar. Well greasea small piece of flannel, rub the article, leaving a thin film of the ointmenton it; then grease on one side a narrow strip of wptl-drifd demy paper, andwrap it diagotially round the article if possible. This will be an additionalpreventive to the access of damp or air. Leave the handle out. This hasbeen used for above forty years, and ar icles so treated raiely or never rust,though not looked at for five or six ye’rs. Stiould they rust, it will be atthe hilt of the blade from the paper wearing from prehsure. A little extragreasing will take the rust out, but it will leave the mark. It is a capitalarticle for greasing screws which may htve to be withdrawn.

Your obedient servant,August 19th, 1871. AMOTHEIZ COUHTBY SURGEON.