To the Editor of the Crimson:

When reading your editorial of December 19 concerning a new infirmary, I was just leaving Stillman after a five day's stay.

I really think that Stillman Infirmary is not so unsatisfactory as it may appear from your editorial.

Before criticising certain facts, (which partly could be altered without erecting an entirely new infirmary) we should well consider that Stillman is supposed to be an infirmary and not a large and modern hospital equipped for the treatment of all sorts of rare sicknesses. Although I have no statistics at hand, I am sure that by far the largest number of students entering Stillman are suffering from minor sicknesses such as colds, bronchitis, grippe, stomach disorders and lack of rest and sleep, which can be easily and well cured in this Infirmary. Why is it not sufficient to treat more serious cases in one of the big hospitals, of which Boston possesses a considerable number? These hospitals always will be superior in regard to equipment and service even to a new infirmary.

Did the writer also consider the possible increase of the infirmary fee which might be caused by a new University hospital? I doubt if this increase would justify itself to the majority of the students.

Finally as a foreign student who has studied in Germany and Italy I may add that in neither country I found a medical service which could be compared to the attention Harvard is giving her students. Helmut W. Schumann '41.