May 10, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



455 



School of Oriental Studies 4,000 



North Sea Fisheries Investigation 



Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland .... 500 



Edinburgh Observatory 1,691 



SCIENTinC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 



Grants for investigation and research .... 56,500 



Fuel Eeseareh Station 7,000 



National Physical Laboratory 89,750 



THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION AND 

 THE WAR 



A WAR conference of secret-aries of the con- 

 stituent State Associations of the American 

 Medical Association was held at the head- 

 quarters of the association on April 30. From 

 the Journal of the association we leam that 

 the meeting was called to order by Dr. Alex- 

 ander E. Craig, secretary of the association. 

 Dr. Thomas McDavitt, of St. Paul, chairman 

 of the board of trustees, was elected chairman, 

 and Dr. A. R. Craig, secretary. Dr. McDavitt 

 emphasized the great importance of the meet- 

 ing. He said the government had made a 

 new call for jjjiysicians. There are already in 

 the service, in the different corps, at the pres- 

 ent time about 20,000 physicians. The issues 

 involved are so great that the government is 

 anxious to have an excess if possible. The 

 5,000 physicians that are requested now do not 

 provide for an excess. 



Dr. Arthur Dean Bevan, president-elect of 

 the association, spoke of the importance of a 

 sun-ey of every state with a view of recording 

 exactly how many medical men there are in 

 each state, and how many have applied for 

 commissions in the Medical Reserve Corps. 

 This work, he said, can be perfected, as is con- 

 templated and as requested by the Surgeon- 

 General of the Army, by the American Med- 

 ical Association through its county and state 

 societies. 



Dr. Charles Mayo, president of the associa- 

 tion, said: 



The medical profession was almost the first to 

 become well organized before the war began, be- 

 cause we have had an organization for a long time. 

 So far as the association is concerned, it was easy 

 for organized medicine to get the names of the 

 men we needed to do their bit. In fact, they had 



been doing their bit by going over to help Britain, 

 France and Serbia in every possible way. 



Our profession is organized, but around the out- 

 skirts is a great deal of disorganization that has 

 been held over from the methods of the profession 

 in advancing their work in education. In the early 

 period there were in Washington about eighteen 

 bureaus, boards and departments that had to do 

 with medicine. Each of these bureaus and depart- 

 ments spends a great deal of money, and there is 

 absolutely no coordination and no one will let go. 

 Each head wants to be chairman of the committee 

 to look after it. The more we study the question, 

 the more we find that there will be no change until 

 we get a real department of health with an officer 

 in the cabinet to look after it, and then we will have 

 an organization. 



A serious problem comes to mind in relation to 

 France. There they have not had any medical 

 schools running for four years. In England the 

 same thing is true. With the natural death rate of 

 doctors and no new degrees granted, it means a 

 great deduction, and the danger that when the 

 schools have started again, there will be lowered 

 standards. I think organized medicine in this 

 country did great service in seeing to It that the 

 government did not in developing draft laws break 

 up the medical schools. I think that has been one 

 of the greatest features shown by organized medi- 

 cine. 



The thing I have been hoping for is that funds 

 may be obtained to develop a great medical teach- 

 ing institution in Paris. From letters received from 

 the French government, the president and others 

 high in authority, this idea is approved. We could 

 move our men over there a thousand at a time 

 and they could be trained by men at the front who 

 for four years have ha<l at their fingers ' ends 

 things that we can not possibly get in this coun- 

 try. I would suggest to turn over now for teach- 

 ing purposes two thirds to the Americans and one 

 third to France, and after the war make France a 

 present of it, and make Paris the center for Amer- 

 ican medical study in Europe. It takes a lot of 

 money to run such an institution, but it looks as 

 though the money might be raised. It is estimated 

 that it would take from $100,000 to $150,000 imder 

 present circumstances to run such a school for a 

 year. It is most difficult to bring about such a 

 thing under government control. Something like 

 that must be planned by organized medicine, but 

 not by government organized medicine, and turned 

 over to the Surgeon-General for the period of the 

 war. Surgeon-General Gorgas could easily detail 



