The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters.
- Bowerbank, Lewis Q.
- Date:
- 1865
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
18/108 (page 12)
![profesbional skill and ability, and of Die very vahiiil.lc nervices lie lias rendered to the hospital duriug liia tenure of oOicc, for vvkich thoy tender their best thanks. T am to rc(iuest you to comimmicate the substance of this let- tor to Dr. Fiddes. I have the honour to he, Your obedient sen'ant, HUGH W. AUSTIN, Gov, Sec. To D. P. Trench, Esq., Inspector and Director. I have thus given a hurried, and I fear a very imperfect sketch ol my official connection with the Public Hospital, and endeavoured to show the causes which have led to niy retirement from it. I am glad to say that I have received the support of the mem- bcrs of my prolessiou as to the line of conduct which I have pursued, and I trust that the explanation which I have given will further se- cure for me the approbation of the pu])lic. I had nothing to gain personally by throwing up a salaried ap- pointment and coming to a rupture with the Governor and Dr. Bow- erbank; I would rather have avoided these, but it is evident that I could not have done so without a sacrifice of principle, and my duty to the profession made it imperative on me to act as I have done.— I have willingly and voluntarily retired from the hospital, and given place to Dr. Bowerbank, who has, thereby, secured the long coveted object of his wishes ; but what next ? Before long there will proba- bly be a reiteration of the old cry Ddenda est Carthago, that the buildings in North Street must be nbandoned, and a new Hospital erected somewhere else ; and this vnW be pleasiiig to Governor Eyre^ who it must be remembered, stands committed to a measure of this kind. But here again the Governor and Dr. Bowerbank will pro- babl}' find themselves on the horns of a dilemma inasmuch as the- Hospital Returns shew that the practice of the Institution up to (ho end of last year, was such as to stand in veiy favourable com])arison with that of nearly every British Colonial Hospital, and that the re- sults of surgical operations had been more successful than in the principal hospitals of Great Britain. It is also well known that the rate of mortality in the Kingston Elospital has been progressively decreasing, and that there has been a stead}' improvement in tlie general economy of the establishment, dependent in a great inea- Kure, on reforms and alterations which have been gradually carried into elTect. If Dr. Bowerbank cannot now maintain tlie professional reputa- tion of the hospital, or if he cannot elevate its practice by means of efficient drainage and other sanitary agencies which have just been brought into practical operation, then it must be evident that his professional status must suffer ; but, if on the other hand he should euccccd, as I hope he may do, to advance and extend the improve- ments which have already been in progress, then there will be less cause than ever to tax a poverty-stricken country to raise an cnor-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21297733_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
