DOCTORS' FINANCE
Snt,—There may be good reasons for increasing the salary of research workers in applied biology, but the average income of general practitioners is quite irrelevant. Do the biologists work an average of ten hours a day? Do they work on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and bank holidays, with little or no time to go to the theatre, a concert or the pictures? Do they rarely have a full hour for lunch, and are they liable to be called to the telephone at every meal and whenever they hope to have a few minutes rest? Are they sent for in the middle of the night in winter as in summer, and are they daily exposed to the risk of infections of every kind? I ask these questions as one who for forty years has seen and admired the magnificent work of the British general practitioner, who in spite of every difficulty generally succeeds in preserving what Stevenson called his Heraclean cheerfulness and courage.—Yours faithfully,
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