HOSPITAL, Pennsylvania. This is one of the best organized institutions in the United States. The following account of it, together with hints for amending its police, is extracted from a work, entitled " A Treatise, containing a plan for the internal organization and government of Marine Hospitals, in the United States," &c. by Dr. Wm. P. C. Barton, professor of botany in the university of Pennsyl vania :— ./in account of the Pennsylvania Hospital, • and its internal police It is obvious, that in proposing regula tions and arrangements for the internal administration ofhospitals, whethernaval, military, or civil, or in suggesting plans for the structure of wards, and other do mestic contrivances, but'little can be of fered that is new. In both cases, the best we can do is, to take a view of some of the similar institutions in highest repute, and cull from their various and well-de vised plans, such as are most useful, and consistent with the principles of econo my and neatness.
With this view, I deem it far from ir relevant to the object of this work, to present some account of an institution, with the internal police of which I have long been familiarized ; and which I be lieve, from a comparative view with the first hospitals of England, to be one of the best conducted institutions of the kind, perhaps, in any country. The hospitals of London are, it is true, conducted on a much more extensive plan : St. Thomas's, Guy's, and St. Bartholomew's, being per haps twice as large as the one of which I am speaking—the Pennsylvania Hospital. But I think I can with truth assert, that the regularity, neatness, and regard to comfort, which characterize this noble ;nstitution, eminently entitles it to a pre ference to any of these, at least so far as it goes. The architectural plan of the building, its beautiful and healthy situa tion, surrounded as it is by a constant cur rent of fresh air, unimpeded by any build ings, or other hindrances, render this institution one of the most salubrious re sorts for the sick or afflicted, that could possibly be contrived in the midst of a large and populous city.
The hospital presents a south front ; the wings which intersect the long build ings, that join them to the main edifice, at right angles, present the one an t ast, and the other a west, front. The centre
building, or main edifice, is sixty-four feet in front, elevated above all the ad joining buildings, (being three stories high) and projecting beyond them both front and back. On the summit of the roof is a sky-light, forming the apex of the operating theatre, which receives its light entirely from this. Two large stair cases, leading to the several wards and apartments up stairs, are constructed in this building, running from the main hall.
Adjoining this centre edifice, on the east, is a building 80 feet front, and 27 feet deep, two stories high, from the sur face of the ground, and three, including the range of windows in the area below This building is divided, in its upper sto ries, into two wards, extending nearly to its entire length and breadth ; and the lower or basement story is subdivided into a row of cells on the south side, and a lobby on the north. The two long wards are ventilated by openings into the chimnies, of which there are four in each ward, near the ceiling. At the east end of these wards, two small apartments are partitioned off, about 10 feet square, the one intended for a pantry, and the other for a lodging-room for the assistant nurses of the ward. At the other, or west ter mination of the upper ward, two small rooms, of the same size, are partitioned off, for patients who may require a sepa rate room. The lower ward extends in length to the centre building.
Intersecting this long building, at right angles, and adjoining it, facing the east, is a wing two stories high, running north and south, extending in length 110 feet. In the middle of this wing, opposite to and communicating with the long ward, is an hall, 28 feet square, including the stair-case, projecting beyond the line of the wing sufficiently to cover the cornice, and raised one story above it, with a cu pola. In the north and south ends of this wing are two sick wards, and between them and the hall, on each side of it, are two lodging-rooms for the nurses. The arrangement in the second story is the same.