rder houses where an order for a truss is handled in exactly the
same way-- and often by the same man-- as an order for groceries or
hardware.

And, when that time comes, mighty few drug-stores will be able to sell
trusses.

Let us show why.

Take the following as an example:

A man might _think_ he had only a bad cold.

And might go to a drug-store.

Now, a druggist doesn't pretend to know _disease_-- he simply knows
_drugs_.

So about all the druggist could do would be to hand out some patent
medicine-- some cure-all.

But if the man went out to a good _physician_--

The _physician_ might find, after asking a few questions and thus
making a diagnosis, that the patient had _La Grippe_, or _Pneumonia_,
or _Pleurisy_ (instead of merely a _cold_, as the patient _thought_).

The physician would find out what the patient _needed_, then write a
specific prescription-- and seldom the same prescription for any two
patients. For the requirements would always _differ_.

Or a man might have poor _eyesight_.

He might go to an _optician_.

Now, an _optician_ doesn't know much about _eyes_-- _he_ has made a
special study of _lenses_-- _he_ merely _fits_ glasses-- just as a
_druggist_ merely _fills_ prescriptions-- neither pretends to _diagnose_
or _prescribe_.

And an _optician_ is just as likely as not to fit a _near_-sighted man
with _far_-sighted glasses.

[Sidenote: A Truss Fitter Should Know as Much About Rupture
as an Oculist About the Eyes]

But if the man with poor eyesight goes to an _oculist_--

The _oculist_ finds out what the _trouble_ is-- and what kind of glasses
are _needed_-- then _prescribes_ that kind of glasses.

And then the _optician fits_ the man according to the _oculist's
prescription_. Just as a _druggist_ fills a _physician's_ prescription.

Now our method of fitting you by mail is precisely like the physician's
method.

From your answers to the simple questions we ask on our information
blank, we first decide the _needs_ of your case-- then we _prescribe_--
then we _fill_ our prescription by making especially for your case
exactly the kind of truss you need.

A physician never asks _you_ what _kind_ of medicine _you want_--
he _prescribes_ for you the kind which _he_ knows you _need_.

But if you go to a _drug-store_ for a truss, the clerk behind the
counter asks you what _kind_ of truss you _want_!

You must be your _own_ doctor.

[Sidenote: Druggists Know Nothing