644 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 747 



some municipalities as much as 70 per cent, 

 by the introduction of filtered water. 



It being a fact beyond doubt that good 

 sanitary knowledge is a real asset of a com- 

 munity, the question is in order, how are 

 we to secure a better general understand- 

 ing of sanitary principles? How are the 

 people, particularly the poorer people, to 

 be educated along such lines ? 



Of all members of a community, the 

 physicians are the ones towards whom we 

 most quickly look for instruction in mat- 

 ters sanitary. Their profession primarily, 

 of course, deals with the combating of mal- 

 adies already in evidence, but they have 

 also an undoubted duty to perform in pro- 

 tecting men from disease as well as in 

 curing them of it. That being granted, it 

 is pertinent to inquire if the medical 

 schools provide such instruction as will 

 place their graduates in a position to prop- 

 erly meet their double responsibility. So 

 far as I can discover, such a question must 

 too often be answered in the negative. It 

 is expected of a physician that he should 

 speak ex-cathedra upon topics dealing with 

 the protection of health, but, aside from 

 some noteworthy exceptions, the average 

 doctor has, through no fault of his own, 

 been unprovided with very strong founda- 

 tions in sanitary science. 



Let us now look at another group of men 

 with responsibilities. 



Whenever human beings are gathered to- 

 gether in organized bodies, as during mili- 

 tary service, those in control of them have 

 the serious task of safeguarding their 

 health and it goes without saying that such 

 persons should be equal to performing the 

 duties of their ofSce. Of the amount of 

 knowledge of a sanitary kind possessed by 

 officers of the regular army I can not speak, 

 although my belief is that those of the 

 medical staff, at any rate, are well-posted 

 men. All of us must siirely allow no small 

 measure of praise to the officers of the 



Japanese army in view of the excellent re- 

 sults secured by them during the Eussian 

 war. 



What can be said, however, of the expert 

 knowledge of our officers of militia? Sim- 

 ply nothing. As a class, they have no 

 proper understanding of the sanitary needs 

 of large groups of men and yet they have 

 been and may be again suddenly called 

 upon to command bodies of troops in the 

 field. Of course the line officers have those 

 of the medical staff to lean upon, but even 

 so, an ignorant line commander can not be 

 educated while on the march and he can 

 readily place his men amid such unsanitary 

 surroundings as will produce evils exceed- 

 ing the poAver of his medical adviser to 

 rectify. We all know the general method 

 followed for the selection of militia officers 

 and are aware that popularity, coupled 

 with a knowledge of tactics, constitutes the 

 total requirement for election. An exam- 

 ination has to be passed before a commis- 

 sion is secured, but in that examination 

 the questions touching upon the sanitary 

 care of troops are few indeed. Imagine a 

 detachment of state soldiers suddenly de- 

 prived of meat food. Is it likely that many 

 of their line officers would be capable of 

 suggesting a vegetable high in nitrogen to 

 replace it? 



I contend that those who are responsible 

 for the safety of enlisted men should be as 

 well qualified to protect them from an in- 

 vasion of disease as from the bullets of the 

 enemy. For it has been well said that if 

 we could eliminate disease from army life, 

 then war would become an international 

 pastime somewhat less dangeroiis per 

 capita per hour for those engaged than 

 college football. And further, not only 

 should the officers be posted in matters 

 sanitary, but the men themselves should 

 receive some sort of instruction calculated 

 to increase their safety, efficiency and com- 

 fort. 



