Hospital Breakdown SIR,—To one living at the end of the
earth, the SPEC- TATOR is something other than a weekly newspaper. Six weeks or more pass before it arrives. By then, prophecies have been fulfilled or forgotten, gambles lost or won. Sometimes it is like opening a time capsule prematurely. Often, several numbers arrive in the same mail, allowing an article and the en- suing correspondence to be read together—like drinking a bottle of wine instead of an isolated glass.
No doubt other readers have long since forgotten a letter on September 23 which contained the words, `being now in the greatest teaching and surgical hospital in England with a world-wide reputation,' issuing from Guy's Hospital, London SEI. It re- cently arrived here, and with gay anticipation I opened the subsequent issues, and turned to `Letters' to enjoy the incensed ripostes.
Not a word has been printed. Perhaps the silence means that nationalised medicine has at length destroyed the souls of its practitioners; so that even the reflex responses learned during student days are lost. Out of time, and out of touch, sir, I protest.
The Mother Hospital of the British Common- wealth is known and recognised throughout the world as St Bartholomew's; famed for teaching and surgery, founded by the monk Rahere in 1123, over five centuries before Thomas Guy was born. None would dispute the reputation of the other institution south of the river; accuracy demands correction of the word 'greatest.'
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