“You are getting along very nicely, but recovery would be much more rapid if you could take a little extra special treatment. But I hesitate to suggest it on account of the expense and the difficulty of procuring the proper ingredients.” “Darn the expense, Doctor, if the stuff will do me good. What is it, and where can I get it.” “There are several ingredients, and the only place in 159Chicago where there is any prospect of finding them is at Doem & Doem’s. But they don’t always have a supply. They are foreign preparations, very expensive, and there is such little demand for them that pharmacists dislike to carry them in stock. I’ll write the prescription, but I can’t vouch for your getting it compounded. At any rate if you can’t get it filled at Doem & Doem’s, there’s no use trying any other drug store.” “You dwell so on the expense, Doctor, that I’m curious. What will it cost?” “The expense varies somewhat. The last patient I supplied with the prescription had to pay $23.25.” “That’s nothing.” The prescription is written and Doem & Doem find on it a cipher telling them that the patient will stand for $25. As a member of the firm glances it over he says to the customer: “This is a very rare and expensive preparation. It happens that we have just about enough material on hand to fill it, but I feel that I should warn you first that it will be very expensive.” “I expected that. Dr. —— told me that it would probably cost $23 or $24.” “That would have been a fair price a few weeks ago, but since then there has been an advance in the cost of the materials and I shall have to charge you $25.” “All right. Go ahead and fill it. A dollar or so won’t stop me.” The customer gets an ordinary preparation which any druggist would be glad to sell at 50 or 60 cents, while 160Messrs. Doem & Doem pocket $12.50, and send a like amount to the enterprising doctor. Nor is this practice confined to what might be called the tradesmen in medicine, the druggists, the surgical instrument dealers, and so on. It is followed by what are known as high-class surgeons, men of eminence in the profession, and even finds favor among the physicians themselves. It is no uncommon thing for the doctors to exchange patients and divide the fees. “Really, Mr. ——, you ought to consult Dr. Flubdub about that feature of your case,” a doctor will say to a patient when he has about exhausted him on the fee proposition. “That particular feature is a little out of my line. It needs the attention of an expert specialist in that line, and Dr. Flubdub has made a close study of just such cases.” So the patient goes to see Dr. Flubdub and the latter is ready for him. He has been advised by phone as to what is coming about as follows: “Hello, is this Dr. Flubdub? Yes. This is Dr. Grab. I have just advised a patient—Mr. ——, to see you. He seems to have a little ear trouble that needs attention. He’ll stand for about $250.”