White buildings on the mountain

THE     STATE     TUBERCULOSIS    COMMISSION.  19 bv  moderately  sick  women  and  girls.  For  administrative reasons  and  medical  reasons,  it  is  greatly  to  be  desired that  the  "almost  well"  cases  and  "hardly  sick"  cases should  live  in  a  building  separate  from  "the  bed  cases." THE  MERIDEN  SANATORIUM. It  is  difficult  to  speak  of  Meriden  Sanatorium  without speaking  of  the  big  genial  Dr.  Dinnan,  who  was  its  Super- intendent from  its  opening,  and  who,  as  we  have  related above,  died  last  October.  His  successor  is  Dr.  Cole  B.  Gib- son for  two  years  Dr.  Dinnan's  assistant,  a  young  physi- cian whose  executive  capacity  was  not  only  clear  to  us but  was  utilized  and  highly  approved  by  the  arm.y  author- ities during  the  war.  Our  expectations  as  to  the  future of  the  Meriden  Sanatorium,  in  its  new  role  of  a  sanator- ium for  children  only,  are  very  high.  It  would  be  hard  to find  in  the  stale  a  location  for  such  an  institution  more sightly  or  more  convenient  than  the  wooded  face  of  the Meriden  mountain  where  the  white  buildings  of  the Meriden  State  Tuberculosis  Sanatorium  for  Children  now nestle  among  the  trees. At  all  the  sanatoria  the  superintendents  again  make  re- 3[uests  for  an  appropriation  for  "recreation  halls."  And undoubtedly  proper  recreation  hall  buildings  would  add to  the  attractiveness  of  all  the  sanatoria.  We  have  hesi- tated about  endorsing  these  requests  because  of  the  ex- pense involved  and  because  these  buildings  have  not  been an  essential.  At  the  Shelton  Sanatorium  we  have  provid- ed a  recreation  hall  by  making  over  for  that  purpose,  the whole  first  floor  of  what  was  formerly  used  as  a  nurses' home ;  the  upper  floor  is  now  being  used  for  the  housing of  male  help.  In  the  other  institutions  there  are  no  places of  assem.bly  except  the  large  dining  rooms  and  the  little central  rooms  in  the  various  shacks.  The  arguments  in favor  of  establishing  these  recreation  halls  at  the  Hart- ford,Norwich  and  Meriden  sanatoria  are  a  little  stronger this  year  than  heretofore  because  of  the  increased  oppor- tunities nowadays  for  entertainment.  Thanks  to  the  gen- erosity of  the  National  officers  of  the  Knights  of  Colum- bus and  other  friends  of  the  sanatoria,  three  of  the  insti- tutions are  now  equipped  with  fine  moving  picture  ma- chines, and  in  the  fourth, Hartford,  the  proprietors  of  the local  theatres  bring  their  own  machines  and  films  to  de- light the  patients.  Of  course,  it  would  be  safer,  more  san- itary, and  less  disturbing  to  the  machinery  of  the  sana-