People, especially men, waiting to see a physician are apt to get into conversation with one another. When there is only one door serving as entrance and exit to the private office, and a caller, after seeing the physician, 94has to come back into the waiting parlor in order to get out there is a temptation to stop for a few moments and chat with those who are still waiting. In this way much harm, particularly in the matter of fees, may be done. It is poor policy to give people a chance to exchange confidences. They will tell each other their opinion of the physician, the amount of the fees, etc. If these latter do not agree in amount it causes jealousies and distrust, and it becomes difficult in many cases for the physician to explain to the satisfaction of Mr. Brown why he should be charged a larger fee than Mr. Jones. Under the best of conditions there will be too much of this sort of thing, but it may be greatly reduced by an arrangement of the rooms which will admit of callers being taken into the doctor’s office at one door and shown out at another. In one instance the waiting room of a certain specialist was crowded when one of the callers came out from the office after an interview. “Are you going to take the treatment,” was the question put to him by one of those with whom he had been talking before he had seen the doctor. “Not much,” was the answer in a loud tone. “That man’s a robber. He wanted $500 for the treatment.” This frightened away a number of men nearly all of whom would have been good for $100 apiece when interviewed by the doctor under proper conditions. But they left without seeing him; actually scared off by the talk of the dissatisfied caller. Rooms arranged as described and located in a good building will command more rental than ordinary quarters, but the investment will be a good one. There 95will be more money in paying $100 or $150 a month for rooms of this kind than $50 for others not similarly arranged. Proper furnishings create a favorable impression upon callers. Neat rugs, comfortable leather covered chairs and lounges, neat tables for books and magazines, handsome curtains and bright, cheerful pictures on the wall tend to make the extraction of a good-sized fee all the easier. No person feels like paying a big fee to a doctor of sloppy appearance who is quartered in a shabby, poorly furnished room. Shabby surroundings breed distrust. An appearance of prosperous solidity on the other hand creates confidence. It is easier to get $100 from a patient in properly furnished quarters than it is to get $5 when the doctor’s poverty stares out from every side.