Dear Doctor: I have lately been consulted by mail by Mr. John Smith, of your city, who is, I understand, a patient of yours suffering from tabes dorsalis. The case appears to be one of unusual interest and I will be under obligation to you professionally if you will make me acquainted with the details.
As you have been in charge of the case a long time it would be presumptuous on my part to attempt to outline the facts I want. You will know what to write about a great deal better than I would, and I will leave the matter entirely in your hands. My only interest in the matter now is a professional one as I understand Mr. Smith is unable to come to Chicago.
Trusting that you will accommodate me, and hoping that I may be able to return the favor in kind, I am,
Yours fraternally,
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This does settle Mr. Family Physician for sure. For years afterward he takes delight in letting it be known how he was “called into consultation by the eminent Dr. Wilkinson, of Chicago, who said frankly that I knew more about the case than he did.” To the credit of Mr. Family Physician be it said that this latter statement was probably correct, and it might with all truth have been extended to include the assertion that he was doing as much or more for the patient as Dr. Wilkinson could.
At any rate Dr. Wilkinson receives the information he asks for, and beyond returning a brief note of thanks to the local doctor and saying that he will give the matter thorough attention as soon as he gets a little respite from his rush of duties, that is the end of it for the time being.
But Dr. Wilkinson is not idle. He is conducting, or rather his secretary is, a similar correspondence with scores of other physicians and prospective patients. From the letters thus received a card system is arranged, all the “prospects” being grouped by localities.
One day Dr. Wilkinson finds that he has some fifty good “prospects” in the immediate vicinity of some good town, and decides to make a round up. He then writes, either to the prospective patients in that neighborhood, or the physicians, if his correspondence with the latter has been encouraging, a letter somewhat as follows:
G. H. WILKINSON, M.D.