15. SPECIAL WARDS.--It may be laid down as an axiom in the management of sick affected with certain zymotic diseases, such as fevers, cholera, dysentery, &c., that they should be distributed over a wide superficial area, and have a large allowance of cubic space. Agglomeration of such cases in small ill-ventilated wards is quite sufficient of itself to occasion a high proportionate mortality among the sick. In mild climates and seasons very little protection is necessary from the change of temperature; so that the sick from epidemic diseases can be camped out and exposed to the full influence of the atmosphere, not only without danger, but often with great benefit. It is only when the temperature is low and variable, and the season inclement, that danger is likely to accrue from this exposure. And hence the necessity of inquiring how we can best combine the requisite elevation of temperature and the most suitable amount of cubic space and ventilation for the treatment of these diseases in Hospitals. Medical Men generally are satisfied that these ends cannot be safely arrived at by agglomerating sick in fever wards in Hospitals. And hence has arisen a practice, which experience appears to have approved, of intermingling a small number of fever cases in wards containing a certain number of sick from other diseases. The practice appears to be not only perfectly safe, but advantageous for the sick. It is known, however, that if the proportion of fever cases exceeds a certain number, the other cases in the ward are apt to become affected with fever. It would appear as if, so far as the fever is concerned, the cubic space occupied by other diseases was to a certain extent available for the use of the fever cases. But the proportion of such cases, that can be advantageously placed among the general sick of any ward, will depend upon the size of the ward, the means of ventilation, the number of cubic feet per patient, the position of the windows, the exposure of the building, and other similar circumstances. Again, it is doubtful whether the preservation of an uniform temperature in any Hospital, even in one set apart for chest complaints, is beneficial for the sick, or whether it be beneficial to agglomerate consumptive cases, without very special precautions, under the same roof. Without discussing the validity of the opinions held in Southern Europe as to the contagious nature of consumption, it may be very fairly doubted whether a number of cases placed under a common roof, and breathing a common atmosphere, would not yield a higher rate of mortality than the same cases would do if distributed through the wards of a well-ventilated Hospital, among other diseases.