nation's dross in the fire of suffering and 

 sacrifice, and the welding in one great 

 purpose of a scattered people. Even Mon- 

 taigne, sanest of men, called it "the great- 

 est and most magnificent of human ac- 

 tions"; and the glamours of its pride, 

 pomp, and circumstance still captivate. But 

 there are other sides which we should face 

 without shrinking. Why dwell on the hor- 

 rors such as we doctors and nurses have had 

 to see? Enough to say that war blasts the 

 soul, and in this great conflict the finer 

 sense of humanity has been shocked to 

 paralysis by the helplessness of our civi- 

 lization and the futility of our religion to 

 stem a wave of primitive barbarism. Black 

 as are the written and unwritten pages of 

 history, the concentrated and prolonged 

 martyrdom surpasses anything man has 

 yet had to endure. What a shock to the 

 proud and mealy-mouthed Victorian who 

 had begun to trust that Love was creation's 



