220 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



women can be made also very useful to physicians and 

 patients as nurses in grave cases of illness or accident. 

 Major P. J. Drury, LM.S., is principal of the college, 

 and Professor Bird occupies the chair of surgery. 



CALCUTTA GOVERNMENT GENERAL HOSPITAL. 



The Calcutta Government General Hospital is vir- 

 tually the clinical part of the Bengal Medical College. 

 The different pavilions and laboratories form a group 

 of buildings of which any city and country might well 

 be proud. The Eden Hospital (Pig. 42), a separate, 

 new modern building, is the maternity in which about 

 600 women are delivered every year. The strictest 

 cleanliness prevails throughout this building and sep- 

 sis in in-patients is almost unknown. The woman in 

 labor is prepared with the same care as for a major 

 operation, and everything brought in contact with her 

 during the delivery and lying-in period is carefully dis- 

 infected (hands) and sterilized (dressings). The de- 

 livery room has all the aspects of an operating room. 

 Three tables are always kept in readiness. Mother and 

 child remain in the hospital from ten to fourteen days 

 after delivery. The Ezra ward, with forty beds, the 

 gift of a rich Jew, is for the exclusive use of Jews. The 

 original hospital building is an old-fashioned two- 

 story solid stone building which in the light of modern 

 improvements would appear somewhat antiquated if it 

 were not for the electric lighting and electric punkah 

 motor. The latter is kept in motion night and day 

 during the hot season and is a source of immense com- 

 fort to the patients. The hospital can accommodate 

 450 patients and has a few private rooms for which a 

 charge of 22 rupees (64 cents) a day is made. The 

 operating room has a small amphitheater which affords 

 standing room for the students, but lacks many of the 

 conveniences and appliances considered at the present 

 time so essential for aseptic surgical work. As in all 

 hospitals in India, chloroform is the favorite anesthetic 



