Genre:

Introduction; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Surgery, Medical Treatment, Patronage, Charlatanry

    Responds to an article in The Times on the need to reform the untrustworthy 'Recommendations and Testimonials which friends give to their friend, when he wants a situation'. Presents three specimen testimonials which embody the ways in which Punch believes the system can be reformed. The first testimonial, from Frank Buffer to John Brown, a 'Candidate for a House Surgeonship', recommends that he is suitable for a position at 'St. Vitus's Hospital' because he has been 'fairly educated, considering that [his] family was a low one', that he will make 'fewer mistakes' once he has 'had more practice', that he has given up his drinking habit, and that he showed 'humanity' in playing billiards when he should have been attending a dying patient.