602 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1225 



that he is one of the greatest organizers in 

 sanitation and. in military medicine and 

 surgery. It is most fortunate that in this 

 emergency work of the medical department 

 it was found in such strong and capable 

 hands. General Gorgas is one of the great 

 assets of this country to-day. The splendid 

 work that he is doing he should continue to 

 do throughout the war, and the organized 

 profession of this country could do no 

 greater service to the government than to 

 make clear to the "Washington authorities 

 that they are unanimous in their support of 

 Surgeon-General Gorgas, and regard him 

 as the hest man in the country for the head 

 of the Medical Department of the Army. 



General Gorgas has succeeded in sur- 

 rounding himself with the strongest, most 

 efficient men, and has shown great wisdom 

 and judgment in placing specially qualified 

 men at the headis of the many departments 

 under his control. The men he has chosen 

 from the regular corps as the heads of di- 

 visions are strong and efficient: it is only 

 necessary to mention such men as Welch, 

 Vaughan, Billings, Mayo, de Schweinitz 

 and scores of others, who in civil life are 

 the recognized' leaders in their special field 

 of work, recognized not only in this coun- 

 try, but throughout the world. 



We are equally fortunate in finding the 

 Medical Department of the Navy in the 

 efficient hands of Admiral Braisted, who 

 has succeeded in meeting the great expan- 

 sion made necessary by the war in the most 

 satisfactory way. 



The medical profession is also proud of 

 the splendid service that has been rendered 

 by the Public Health Service under the 

 able leadership of Surgeon-General Blue. 



HEALTH DURING MOBHjIZATION 



The mobilization of this country for war 

 is an enormous task. To create an army of 

 from three to five million men or more, 



where before we had less than 100,000, and 

 create a navy of from 500,000 to 1,000,000 

 is an undertaking that had never before 

 been worked out by any country. It was 

 necessary that this enormous mobilization 

 should be done as rapidly as possible, and 

 from the rapidity and the enormous size of 

 the mobilization it was inevitable that the 

 medical organization could not accomplish 

 the impossible and secure at once ideal re- 

 sults. Yet when Ave compare the mobiliza- 

 tion of the United States for war with other 

 countries we find cause for congratulation. 

 Up to the time of our mobilization the army 

 of Japan had held the record for the lowest 

 mortality of any country during mobiliza- 

 tion, and the best care of its soldiers from 

 a medical standpoint. In the Japanese 

 mobilization there was a mortality of 20 per 

 thousand. In our mobilization there has 

 been a little less than 10 per thousand. In 

 other words, the showing of our mobiliza- 

 tion from the standpoint of mortality was 

 twice as good as the record held by any 

 country up to that time. There have been 

 epidemics of contagious diseases, such as 

 measles, mumps and meningitis, and the 

 total number of cases occurring among 

 2,000,000 men has been somewhat startling ; 

 but when these facts are analyzed and it is 

 found that the mortality in our army is 

 less than the mortality in civil life of the 

 same number of men of the same age, picked 

 by insurance companies, we can realize 

 what splendid results have been accom- 

 plished. 



The people of this country, the mothers 

 and fathers and wives, whose sons and hus- 

 bands are in the Army and Navy, are en- 

 titled to know, and it will be a great com- 

 fort to them to know, that the health of 

 these men is better looked out for than when 

 they were in civil life, that the dangers 

 that they run from disease are less than 

 when they were in civil life, and that when 



