Selected papers of John Shaw Billings

The General Infirmary at Leeds: Vol II-The Second Hundred Years, (1869-1965), by S. T. ANNING, Edinburgh and London, E. & S. Livingstone, 1966, pp. xii, 188, illus., 42s. This volume appears, as was hoped, in good time for the Infirmary's bicentenary in 1967. During the period covered, the institution has been on its present site, though the latter has naturally been much enlarged, and the buildings considerably elaborated, since the opening of the 'New' Infirmary in 1869. The last chapter deals in outline with the bold plans envisaged for the future, when a site enlarged to 43 acres will provide a magnificent hospital medical school campus contiguous with that of the university. Even so, so rapidly do the demands for more doctors appear to outstrip even the most far-sighted plans, that it seems likely that increasing use will have to be made of St. James's Hospital, a former municipal institution which, owing to wisdom and foresight in the inter-war period, is already sharing to a considerable extent in the teaching work of the Leeds Medical School. As in the previous volume, the story of the Infirmary is not presented entirely chronologically, but rather as a series of semi-independent essays dealing with the nursing services, buildings, the rise of the specialties, relations between the Infirmary and the Medical School, and so on. And somehow one seems to get in this way a more real picture of the growth of an institution than would be obtained by a more stereotyped presentation. The difficulty in the airing of the water-closets that was previously noted had been succeeded (in 1890) by complaint of their chilliness, one patient being said to have developed rheumatic fever as a result. And a problem that must be unusual in the hospital world had to be faced when in 1941 'the Moynihan Memorial had again been disfigured by lipstick.' The advice of Sir William Reid Dick himself had to be obtained, apparently with ultimate success, though it was later deemed wise to protect the Memorial by plate-glass. It is notable that the Chantrey bust of William Hey (the first), which also stands in the Entrance Hall of the Infirmary, has attracted no such scandalous attacks. (On a recent visit to Leeds, the reviewer noted that the bust appears now to be housed in the Consultants' cloakroom.) As was promised, a biographical Appendix is now provided covering the whole period of the hospital's existence and including not only consulting medical staff (unless still living) but also certain laymen who have done outstanding work for the institution. Especially on the surgical side, this sounds like a master-roll of some of the most famous names in English medicine over the last two centuries. This book is a labour of love whose scholarship is beyond question-so much so that the mis-spelling on page 54 gives a shock out of proportion to the triviality of the error. J. G. McCRIE