“‘Ahem, Doctor, I am very much obliged to you for the favor you have shown me. I hope to do a large share of your business in the future. I expect a check for this job to-morrow, and will then extend to you the usual courtesies to the medical profession.’ “‘Ah,’ I replied, ‘and what might that be?’ “‘Why, 25 per cent. I call that pretty good, too, considering the hard times, don’t you Doctor?’ “And my friend Weeps still thinks I was bluffing when I declined the ‘usual courtesies.’ Truth is strange, passing strange—stranger than fiction.” Then there is another class of physicians who will not hesitate to take advantage of a brother practitioner if they can do so to their own benefit. This is done in several ways: One method is to misrepresent the financial status of the patient whom he takes to an expert for 163consultation. It is not long since a physician called up another by telephone and arranged for him to see a “poor patient” who could only pay a small fee for consultation. The doctor thus called upon discovered that the patient, who was a wealthy stock raiser from the West, had paid his doctor friend a good fee already, and had arranged to pay him $200 more for the prospective operation—which the second doctor was expected to tell his friend how to do. It is frequently the case that general practitioners call a consultant without making arrangements for the fee beforehand. It is unpleasant to spend half a day or night in consultation and then have the doctor say: “Now, doctor, these people haven’t got much money, so don’t charge them a large fee.” The consultant thereupon cuts his fee in two. “Well, doctor, I’ll see that you get it in a day or two,” is the reply. But the consultant never gets it. Should he protest, the family physician says, “Don’t be in such a hurry, doctor, I haven’t got anything out of the case myself, yet.” How easy it would be for the physician who calls the consultation to see that the fee is ready when the consultant comes. Unless there is an understanding that the case is one of pure charity, the physician calling the consultation should be held responsible for the fee. The consultant himself cannot always do so, but where possible he should stipulate beforehand that a certain fee be in readiness. The family physician who does not know that such a plan is best for his own interests is stupid. 164An intolerable nuisance to the consultant is the doctor who writes a friendly letter asking for “the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment” of some case under his care. Rarely does he inclose a stamp, never a fee. The consultant who answers such letters, save to inform the writer that office rent cannot be paid by such consultations, is frequently laughed at for his pains, but this should be the rule.