And State Papers 69 



work in the field, to see them carrying the wounded 

 and the dying from the firing-line, themselves as 

 much exposed to danger as those they were rescuing, 

 and to see them working day and night in the field 

 hospital afterward when even the intensity of the 

 strain could hardly keep them awake, so fagged out 

 were they by having each to do the work of ten. 



I welcome you here, and I am glad to have the 

 chance of seeing you, and I wish to say a word of 

 congratulation to you upon this Association. In 

 all our modern life we have found it absolutely in 

 dispensable to supplement the work of the individual 

 by the work of the individuals gathered into an 

 association. Without this work of the association 

 you can not give the highest expression to individ 

 ual endeavor, and it would be a great misfortune 

 if the military members of the surgical and medi 

 cal profession did not take every advantage of 

 their opportunities in the same way that is taken 

 by the members of the medical and the surgical 

 professions who are not in the army or the navy 

 or the marine hospital service who are in civilian 

 life outside. I am glad to see you gathered in this 

 association. Just one word of warning: Pay all 

 possible heed to the scientific side of your work; 

 perfect yourselves as scientific men able to work 

 with the best and most delicate apparatus; and 

 never for one moment forget especially the higher 

 officers among you that in time of need you will 

 have to do your work with the scantiest possible 

 apparatus! and that then your usefulness will be 



