3 72 Correspondence

paper they mention and it now seems that the date for the introduction of this technique should be put back by 4 years. It is notoriously difficult for his- torians to establish precedence and I (emphatically nor a historian) was foolish enough to think that I

33 Stormont Road, London, N6.

References

C. LANGTON HEWER

had invented the pilot balloon for cuffed tracheal cenr Advances in Anaesthesia tubes in 1939.3 Twelve years later, I found out quite and Analgesia 3rd edn, p. 115. Churchill, London. accidentally that it had been used in 19062 and 2. GREEN, N.W. (1906) The positive pressure method Of furthermore that the device had been tried experi- artificial respiration. Surgery, Gynecofogy and mentally in respiratory studies in animals towards the end of the nineteenth century.

1. HEWER, C.L. (1939)

Obstetrics, 2, 512.

Distinction unrewarded

Scotland

The subject of Merit Awards is always liable to arouse emotions even in the most staid of individuals Dr Rosen’s article ‘Distinction-Unrewarded’ (Anaes- thesia, 1977, 32, 936) was timely and will hopefully result in some steady improvement in the proportion of awards made to anaesthetists. However, Dr Rosen was discussing the problem as seen from England and Wales and from Northern Ireland, and he failed to mention the situation of anaesthetists in Scotland.

It is worth recalling that in England and Wales 25.9% of anaesthetists have awards (compared with a figure of 34.9% for all specialities), whereas in Scotland the figures are 20.3% and 33.2% respec- tively.

I am sure that all members of our speciality will support any efforts to level these unhappy imbal- ances, both within different areas of the country and between various specialities in medicine.

Royal Hospital for Sick Children, RICHARD BURTLES Sciennes Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1LF.

Northern Ireland and Scotland

The excellent article from the Honorary Secretary of the Association of Anaesthetists in Great Britain pointed out one of the most obviously glaring inequalities in the present Distinction Award system. A recent document to consultants in Scot- land pointed out that one of the criteria on which these awards are based, is that of doing an impres- sively good job in particularly difficult circumstances. This must surely apply par excellence to our col- leagues in Northern Ireland.

It is the hope of all anaesthetists in Scotland that, prior to any change in the Distinction Award scheme likely to be associated with a new contract that regional and national differences as at present exist, will be eradicated and the considerable disparity between specialities will be evened out.

Royal Infirmary, DOUGLAS S . ARTHUR Glasgow, GF OSF.

The proposed new contract-another problem

The proposed new contract has certain implications I shall endeavour to correlate the results in order for consultants working without junior staff, in that that we may work out a reasonable modus aiuendi the upper limit imposed on the number of Notional and perhaps make representations to have the Half Days may mean they cannot be paid for all the contract altered in particular circumstances. sessions they do.

May I request all such area representatives to write to me giving the numbers of staff, total number of theatre sessions and how the ‘on call’ work is

Dunfermline & West Fife Hospital, Reid Street, Dunfermline KY12 7EZ.

EVE M. PiTT

allocated.

The acidity of stomach contents Your recently published article entitled ‘Fasting volume and acidity of stomach contents associated with gastro-intestinal symptoms’ by Brock-Utne et a / . (Anaesthesia, 1977,32,749) appears to be marred by a simple error. This is that in the data presented an average of the measured pH values is given.

pH is a convenient scale used to describe hydrogen ion concentration. The scale has one disadvantage in that it is a logarithmic one. If a mean of logarithms is taken the value found is not the logarithm of the average hydrogen ion concentration, nor is it the logarithm of the reciprocal of the average hydrogen