Report ... for the year 1842 / By Thomas S. Kirkbride.

  • Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane
Date:
[1843]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report ... for the year 1842 / By Thomas S. Kirkbride. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/54 (page 20)
    Arrangements &c. of the HospiTAL.—The expe¬ rience of two years gives me good reason to be satisfied in most respects with the arrangements and fixtures of the Hospital. The general scheme of organization originally adopt¬ ed and detailed in the report of last year, is still contin¬ ued, and is so satisfactory, as to offer no inducement for a change of any kind. During the severest weather, we have been able to make the house comfortable in every part, and to keep it well ventilated. The introduction of heated air, is, I be¬ lieve, the only mode in which a Hospital can be tho¬ roughly warmed and at the same time properly ventila¬ ted. To insure success by this method, only requires that a very large body of pure air, (taken from the external atmosphere,) should be moderately heated and with sufficient moisture, freely introduced into the wards, after proper provision has been made for its subsequent escape through the attics of the buildings. Any arrangement providing only for warming the air already in the rooms, must necessarily be defective in its ventilation. Heated air has another important advantage—no fear of a patient suffering from cold need ever exist, and with it, restraining apparatus for this purpose may he entirely dispensed with. The supply of water has been abundant for all purpo¬ ses, and the driest weather has made but little change in the amount in the pond. Every day goes to confirm the value of a country location, for all descriptions of insane patients. The chronic and incurable have shown its advantages as strikingly as those of a more recent character. A rea¬ sonable proximity to a large city—readily accessible by