June 21, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



599 



entific medicine, and through well-pre- 

 pared abstracts with the current medical 

 literature of the world. 



It is now more important than ever that 

 these admirable activities of the association 

 should be contimied and amplified, and 

 that steps should be taken to meet the new 

 problems that will confront the association 

 after the war. These will undoubtedly in- 

 clude the stimulation of medical research, 

 the development of an adequate American 

 medical literature, the creation of post- 

 graduate medical facilities not only for 

 our own medical men, but also for the med- 

 ical men from other countries, who will 

 find here in our great democracy a welcome 

 and opportunities in medical instruction 

 and medical research second to none. But 

 these things can and must wait on the one 

 great problem that confronts us now, the 

 winning of the xvar. 



DEMANDS MADE BY THE W^VR 



The problem that confronts the country 

 in this war, as far as the development of 

 the medical departments of the United 

 States Army, Navj- and Public Health 

 Service are concerned, can briefly be stated 

 in this way : If we raise an army of 3,000,- 

 000 men, 10 per cent, of this number will 

 be in the medical department, that is, 300,- 

 000 officers and men, and of these at least 

 25,000 must be qualified physicians and 

 surgeons. If we raise an army of 5,000,000 

 men, the medical department will contain 

 500,000 officers and men, and it will be nec- 

 essary to have between 35,000 and 40,000 

 qualified medical men. At present there 

 are more than 200,000 men authorized in 

 the Medical Department of the Army. Of 

 these, somewhere from 20,000 to-25,000 will 

 be medical officers, and the balance enlisted 

 men and nurses. If we create a navy of 

 500,000 we shall need 3,500 medical men. 

 If we create a navy of a million, which is 



probable, we shall need 7,000 medical men. 

 The need of the Public Health Service, al- 

 though more modest, will be considerable, 

 and must be met. No one can prophesy the 

 extent or duration of the war, but we can 

 say with certainty that it is the purpose of 

 the American people to create and maintain 

 the largest and most efficient navy in the 

 world and to organize and train and equip 

 an army large enough to win the war. 



WHO REPRESENTS THE MEDICAL PROFESSION T 



The efficient organization of the medical 

 profession of this countrj- for war is being 

 splendidly accomplished by the cooperation 

 between the Medical Departments of the 

 Army and Navy and the organized profes- 

 sion, the American Medical Association. 

 It has been unfortunate that a medical ad- 

 visory committee which is not in any way 

 representative or democratic, and which 

 has no proper function in the efficient or- 

 ganization of the medical profession for 

 war, should have been called into existence. 

 A small coterie of specialists, of gynecolo- 

 gists and surgeons, no matter how eminent 

 or how successful they may have been as 

 promoters and exploiters of special medical 

 societies, can in no way in this great emer- 

 gency and in this great democracy represent 

 the medical profession. 



RESPONSE OF THE PROFESSION 



At the outbreak of the war, the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association offered to the 

 United States government its entire organi- 

 zation and machinery to assist in the enor- 

 mous expansion that became necessary. 

 Through the officers of the county societies, 

 the state societies, and particularlj' through 

 the columns of The Journal, the needs of 

 the government were placed before the or- 

 ganized profession of the country, and they 

 responded splendidly to the call. So far 



