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"A patient in . . . a country village desires to consult a leading medical practitioner at four or five hundred miles distant . . . He draws up a short statement of his case, sends it along the wires, and in an hour or two receives the advice he seeks, and a prescription."—Dionysius Lardner, The Electric Telegraph, 1867
On the Case
Patients, physicians, insurers, and drug manufacturers all made use of the telegraph for medical purposes. Physicians sometimes consulted each other about difficult cases. More commonly, telegrams brought news of family illness or death. The telegraph also had less urgent medical applications. Pharmaceutical and medical supply companies used it to coordinate production, sales, and distribution of products.
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