LIFE IN A SANATORIUM.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—In your issue of August 23rd, a writer from a sanatorium fcr tuberculosis at Davos compares the conditions of treat- ment in winter with those described by "X. Z.," in the Spectator of August 9th, in an English sanatorium for tuberculosis, also in winter. I should like to add my experience that even in a sanatorium for the treatment of various ailments for which fresh air is no doubt very important, the age and constitution of each patient were not sufficiently considered. In our English winters, windy and sunless as they generally are, the difficulty of keeping a room warm, and yet admitting fresh air, is no doubt greater than at Davos. In my own house I am seldom without an open window, and crave for fresh air, but being over seventy and able to take very little exercise, I cannot stand a low temperature or wind blowing over me. In the sanatorium to which I refer—one for the rich and luxurious, compared with "X. Z.'s "—there were always good fires in the bedrooms, but no radiators and no ventilators, and as it was the rule to have some windows always open, it could not be said that "the rooms were warm and comfortable to dress and undress in," as at Davos. On a cold day in January, when sitting up, I required a fur cloak and a rug over my knees to keep warm enough. To go to the bathroom I had daily to pass along a cold passage with an open window which the nurses could not be persuaded to shut even for a few minutes. I came back to find the door and all the windows of my bed- room open while it was swept—which is, of course, necessary; but if the process had been postponed until I was in bed I should not have complained, and should not, I think, have suffered from repeated chills which seriously interfered with the treatment, prolonged my stay, and left me but slightly benefited. I cannot say that the kind doctor was indifferent to his patients taking cold, but he did not seem to realize that younger and stronger patients might stand a chilly or windy atmosphere better than yours, Sir,
A SEPTUAGENARIAN.
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