Why we washed our hands of Izal | Brief letters

Toilet tissue | Bumphone jazz | Discontinued products | A classic crossword clue | Practice v practise

In the 1970s, to save money, a London psychiatric hospital replaced soft toilet tissue with Izal medicated toilet roll (Letters, 13 April). Therapists conducting successful sessions for outpatients with compulsive disorders were surprised by a sudden increase in relapse rates, until they realised that each sheet contained the exhortation “Now wash your hands”. Its use was discontinued. ‌Prof David C Sanders Mortain, France

• Izal toilet paper made excellent tracing paper, but it also made a superb sound in a comb and paper. One member of a jokey interval band at the original Concorde Jazz Club in Southampton played an Izal bumphone to great effect! David Witt Malmesbury, Wiltshire