Dr. ---- will cut 50 cents or a dollar from the established fees for out-of-town work, and immensely increase his practice by it. For be it understood the bone and sinew of the land dearly love the wholes and halves, and will flock to sell in the dearest and pay in the cheapest market. Don't envy this man his prosperity and, above all, don't follow in his footsteps. Bide your time with the assurance that the man who charges $1.00 for $2.00 worth of service rarely gives more than a dollar's value, and that when a real emergency arises and a capable, honest man is demanded, one who respects himself and his calling, if you have prepared yourself and are known to give the best that is in you, the cheap man will go to the wall and your merit will receive its reward. If by chance any of you have not seen Dr. McCormick's paper on this question of fees and collections, let him by all means find the proper A. M. A. Journal and read it. It is a classic worth any man's time and attention. In concluding this subject, let me endorse what he says about the cheap man, the price-cutter. Whatever his charge may be, he is usually getting full value for his services. Realizing his lack of education or ability or temperament, or whatever it is that puts him below his professional competitor, he cuts his fees in order to live. It is not our place to meet his competition, but to pity him, to extend to him the helping hand, to endeavor to elevate him to our standard, and never to lower ourselves to his. I have only a few words to say on the subject of professional confidences. So sacred is the relation between the physician and patient regarded that the courts will not compel a physician, while on the witness stand and under oath, to tell the truth, and not only the truth, but the whole truth, to reveal what is imparted to him in confidence by his patient. If in this exalted function of doing justice between man and man the courts will not compel the recital of some important piece of evidence, how carefully should we regard our professional relation, and see to it that neither in strict confidence or in idle gossip do we betray the secrets that suffering man has confided in us.