On the defects, with reference to the plan of construction and ventilation, of most of our hospitals for the reception of the sick and wounded / by John Roberton.

  • Roberton, John, 1797-1876.
Date:
[1856]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the defects, with reference to the plan of construction and ventilation, of most of our hospitals for the reception of the sick and wounded / by John Roberton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    L__. On the Defects, with reference to the Plan of Construction and Ventilation, of most of our Hospitals for the reception of the Sick and Wounded. By an apt and beautiful form of expression, the air we breathe is called in the Scriptures the breath of life; when we cease to respire it, we die. If we should inhale some other kind of air, or atmospheric air much contaminated, this would prove to us, not the breath of life, but that of sickness or of death. How significant the words ! The atmosphere is God's common gift, as free to the peasant as to the prince; and yet, strange to say, in a large proportion of human dwellings, and of vessels as they navigate the sea, the admission and circulation of the air are unduly limited and impeded ; and not seldom, the supply, such as it is, is allowed to become so impure as actually to generate disease. The ignorance as to the indispensable necessity of air for the maintenance of life would be incredible, did we not so often witness it in connexion with its deplorable consequences. I will mention two or three facts by way of example. I happened on one occasion to be at the door of an inn in a country town, when a stage coach drew up, and the passengers alighted for breakfast. One of them, a gentleman, before going within, called to the guard to let out his dogs; which, on some account— perhaps the convenience of his fellow passengers—he had lodged behind, in the boot. The guard accordingly opened the boot, and, to the astonishment of the gentleman, dragged forth his dogs, a pair of fine pointers, dead. It had not, seemingly, By Mr. John. Roberton. [Read March 20th, 1856.]