‘ [288] expenditure was not to be considered urgent. The great undertaking was to find the materials needed.’ At Chattanooga, Doctor Stout caused hospitals to be constructed upon an entirely new plan, which he maintained was far superior to that followed in the building of the Chimborazo Hospital, and which ‘was evidently an imitation of the models of such buildings long in use in the Federal service.’ His objections to the plan of Chimborazo were that its width afforded space for more than two rows of bunks and that, when windows and doors were necessarily closed on account of the weather, ventilation through the roof was not sufficient. He thus describes the new plan:
The pavilion wards erected under my direction, were of such width that only two rows of bunks could be arranged or accommodated in them. The bunks were placed crosswise of the room, the head of each being from one and a half to two feet from the side wall. Thus, an aisle or vacant space of from eight to ten feet in width was left in the middle of the ward throughout its entire length. Sometimes the wards were built one above another. Near the floor, and just under the ceiling overhead, were longitudinal openings with sliding shutters, one foot in width, that could be closed or opened at the will of the surgeon in charge. Overhead, in the ceiling, were also openings with sliding shutters, and latticed structures on the comb and in the gables, which were opened or closed as occasion required.1Doctor Stout also provided a general register at his headquarters for all the hospitals under his direction. The surgeon in charge of every hospital was required to send daily any changes in his register. These were entered upon the general register, and it was therefore possible to find the whereabouts or the fate of any patient in a few seconds. In addition to the general hospitals established for the treatment of patients until they were convalescent, ‘wayside’ hospitals were established at every important junction-point.
