titute, several years ago, we assigned to one
physician the examination and treatment of diseases of the nervous
system; to another, surgical operations and the treatment of surgical
diseases; a third had charge of catarrhal and pulmonary diseases and
affections of the heart; a fourth attended to diseases peculiar to
women; a fifth, to diseases of the eye and ear; a sixth, to diseases of
the digestive organs; a seventh, to special surgical cases; to another
we entrusted diseases of the urogenital organs; and to others, various
other specialties. Now that our practice has become so very extensive as
to require for its conduct a greatly increased number of physicians and
surgeons. Thus four physicians and surgeons devote their undivided
attention to the examination and treatment of diseases of the urinary
and generative organs of men. Three physicians give their sole attention
to diseases peculiar to women and three to those of the nasal organs,
throat and chest, embracing all chronic diseases of the respiratory
organs. Thus we have a full council of three and four physicians in
these several specialties. In several other divisions we have two
specialists. No case is slighted either in the examination or in the
treatment. All doubtful, obscure or difficult cases are submitted to a
council composed of several physicians and surgeons. Skilled
pharmaceutists are employed to compound the medicines prescribed. For
the purpose of enabling us to conduct our extensive correspondence (for
we have an extensive practice en every part of the United States and
Canada, as well as in Great Britain from our London branch),
graphophones are employed, to which replies are dictated, recording the
words of the speaker. Afterwards the letters are written out in full,
generally on a type-writing machine, which prints them in a plain,
legible style. These machines are operated as rapidly as a person can
think of the letters which compose a word, each operator thus
accomplishing the work of several copyists. This system, by which we are
enabled to correspond with our patients as rapidly as we can talk, has
been rendered necessary by the growth of our business, which has
attained immense proportions, giving rise to so large a correspondence
that a dozen physicians cannot possibly conduct it all and give each
patient's case careful attention, without the employment of graphophones
and all other facilities which modern invention has given us. By the