ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am clearly indebted to many people for the source material in this book; two however stand out. They are Vera Wilson and John Sage. Vera gave me her personal permission to use her book and photos. John Sage died in May 1993 but his widow, Beryl, was delighted for John's material to be used. Bristol Record Office gave permission to quote the 1931 brochure. Other authors willingly gave permission and I am indebted to John Penny for helping me contact the authors of the various books that he quoted to me. I had no idea how to contact the author of 'Medicine under Canvas', nor the family of Lott Broaddus Bloomfield; however I guess that they too would be pleased at the use of their material so late after it was written.[see relevant sections for updates]
Without the sponsorship of one of the Postgraduate Endowment Funds at the hospital this book would never have been published. An initial quote for 500 copies came up with a figure of £3,000. Eventually a cheaper quote was obtained but, nevertheless, the cost ran well into four figures. All 'profits' from sales will go back to the Fund.
The drafting of the text was made on my personal word processor with the enormous help of the loan, over one weekend, of £10,500 worth of computer equipment from my son-in-law's employers (Formscan Ltd., Frome, Somerset). This equipment included a flat-bed optical scanner and appropriate programs which allowed whole documents to be copied from the scanner and put into my word processor without typing a single word. Without this help I don't think that I could have faced the task of typing everything myself - I'm a two finger typist only!
Lastly, a special thanks to André Coutanche of Malago Press and Print Services. He was responsible for the lay-out of the text and pictures -the final appearance of the book.
James Briggs
Bristol
September 1994