Stillman Annex Adds 50 New Beds Despite Current Diving Illness Rate

When its new 50-bed annex opens up in two weeks, Stillman Infirmary will be ready to take care of any "possible contingencies" caused by an enlarged student body, Dr. Arlie V. Bock, Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygiene, announced yesterday.

The annex, now complete except for a few interior details, connects directly with the Infirmary through the Stillman yard off Mt. Auburn Street.

Originally scheduled for readiness by New Year's, the extra unit has been delayed by shortages in essential materials ever since construction started last August, Bock said.

With more than 12,000 now on the University's roster, the Hygiene Department found the original 65-bed Infirmary, designed to care for around 7500 students, inadequate, according to Bock.

Slump in Sickness

Lack of the respiratory disease epidemics which have cropped up in other years has diminished the immediate need for extra space, added Dr. Bock, observing that the list of winter illnesses is less than 40 per cent of the pre-war rate. An average day sees 35 students in residence at the Infirmary.

Shortages in furniture and gear are holding up a planned reshuffling of office space in the Hygiene Building, Dr. Bock said. The shift was required by the removal of the Employees' Clinic from the Hygiene Building to the adjoining one-story building two months ago.

All these projects are more or less temporary measures, in the eyes of the Hygiene Department, for Professor Bock hopes that sometime in the not too distant future the large medical center will be built that he has long been "dreaming about."