318 ASHFORD— APPLICATION OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO 



ease was only one of the activities of our medical sciences against 

 the German. The part played by surgery, by medicine itself and by 

 the skilful evacuation of wounded has yet to be written. We are 

 apt to confuse our priestly mission of ministering to the suffering 

 of friend and foe alike, with that militant one of applying our mind 

 and body, our art and science, to win the war. A man who carries 

 arms is not less a soldier for observing the laws of humanity in his 

 treatment of a fallen enemy. A doctor who keeps healthy men at 

 the front and salvages the sick and wounded to fight again is no 

 less a soldier because he carries no rifle. 



We went into this war with one officer per 27,000 men, one man 

 in the division, charged exclusively with the responsibilities of the 

 sanitation of our great fighting unit. He was only an advisory officer 

 by law. He was a high ranking officer because rank is the current 

 coin in the Army, and rank has its privileges. But he had strong 

 support because he represented a reasonable and powerful science. 

 Most commanders, jealous of the health of their troops, gave him 

 every possible chance to work out his salvation. Some even gave 

 him authority to command in their name. But the weak point lay 

 in his lack of a force of trained men of his own to carry out his own 

 suggestions. It was too much to require of fighting troops that they 

 should lay aside their arms, often after exhaustive physical strain 

 in the line, to build privies, delousers, etc. It was their duty to do 

 their part but not all the creative work. 



Again, this officer was expected to transform a new area into 

 which the division would be suddenly thrust, into a sanitarily safe 

 living-place for these soldiers and to do it right away. It was only 

 when he failed to do it that he realized the full prominence of his 

 position, for he was charged with the responsibility to his military 

 chief for failure. This sudden assumption of responsibility for the 

 sanitation of an unprepared area, or an area soiled by preceding 

 troops, was another weak point. It is true that all medical officers 

 of whatever condition are charged by law with sustaining the sani- 

 tary excellence of the command to which they are assigned, but " in 

 addition to their other duties," and these other duties become in 

 active periods paramount. In practice every one tried to keep things 



