The physician with a large office or out-of-town practice is too busy to give attention to the details of correspondence. He has not the time during office hours, and after his work for the day is done he is too weary to dictate the many letters that should go out every day. Not only this, but there are very few medical men who know just what to say. Letter writing is a gift, and the men who have this gift make a business of it. Every letter that comes into the office should be indexed 104by the card system and then filed away by number with the copy of the reply attached. This work, as well as the opening of the mail and the dictation of answers, should be done in a room convenient to the doctor’s office, but away from it far enough so that the patients will not suspect the connection. A letter arrives from Hiram Oxbow, of Valparaiso, Indiana. The man in charge of the correspondence opens it and finds that, according to the printed heading Mr. Oxbow is conducting a cooperage plant. The letter runs about as follows: HIRAM OXBOW MANUFACTURER OF COOPERAGE Valparaiso, Ind., August 10, 1910. Dr. G. H. Wilkinson, Chicago, Ill. Dear Sir: I have read of your success in the treatment of locomotor ataxia, and would like to know whether you think you can do anything for me. I am 45 years of age, and have been afflicted for the last eight years. Have doctored with nearly everybody in the country without results. Can you cure locomotor ataxia? Please let me hear from you soon. Yours respectfully, Hiram Oxbow. Sorting out all the letters of this kind the correspondence chief gives them to one of his stenographers with instructions to look up the financial rating of the various writers as given in Dun’s or Bradstreet’s. Every well-equipped correspondence room will have a copy of a commercial guide of this kind. The girl marks on the letters such ratings as are given in the guide. Mr. Oxbow, for instance, is quoted as A 4. 105When the answers are written each new enquirer is given an individual card and number, the numbers running consecutively. The last number in the file we will say is 6345. Mr. Oxbow’s number will be 6346. One of the girls then makes out a card which reads: No. 6346—Hiram Oxbow, Valparaiso, Ind. Rating A 4. 1907 Aug. 11. First enquiry. Answered with No. 3. Mr. Oxbow’s letter with a carbon copy of the reply thereto is then placed in a manila paper pocket, numbered 6346, and filed in the letter cabinet. If at any time it is desired to get the correspondence in the Oxbow case the card, which is filed alphabetically, will give the correspondence number and the location of the letters themselves will then be easy.