The family physician, after seeing a patient through the acute stages of an illness and subsequent convalescence, watched him until his ultimate return to work. The patient, usually stimulated by the daily needs of life on the farm and in the home, was chiefly interested in regaining his former place in his society. As he recuperated, he could make himself useful in many simple tasks. Gradually more difficult and strenuous skills would be regained. The relationship of the family physician to the home was sufficiently direct to permit him to help substantially in the process.
Now, however, and especially in cities, the family physician can no longer help effectively in this rehabilitative phase of medical care. Many people live almost monastically in apartments like cubicles. From the hospital the inmate returns to this cell, where his metabolism can be described in terms like those used by the cytologist in describing