Special Hospitals—Their Origin, Development and Relationship to Medical Education, Their Economic Aspects and Relative Freedom from Abuse.

This brochure is a defense of specialism in medicine and an apologia for special hospitals in general and the Central London Throat and Ear Hospital, of which Kershaw is secretary, in particular. It begins with an interesting review of specialism in medicine from the earliest date, with illustrations of Greek and Roman votive tablets, oculists' seals, etc. It then discusses chronologically the establishment of the special hospitals of modern times in Great Britain and Ireland from the foundation of the London Fever Hospital, 1801, to the nine special hospitals founded in the last decade of the nineteenth century, bringing the total up to 107. Hospital economy is considered and the abuse of hospital charity discussed. The value of special hospitals in medical education is demonstrated by the fact that nearly all the heads of special departments in the great teaching hospitals of medical schools gained their training in the special