June 28, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



631 



of an immense pipe organ and the Fort Riley 

 Band, sang a national song. 



On Thursday, practically all of the scienti- 

 fic sections combined in two meetings of the 

 greatest importance to the Army, the pro- 

 fession and the public. These meetings were 

 held in tlie Auditorium and Studebaker the- 

 aters, and concerned the reconstruction and 

 reliabilitation of disabled soldiers and the 

 physical examinations made under the selec- 

 ti%'e service. When the meeting in the Audi- 

 torium Theater opened, some 4,000 persons 

 listened attentively to the message brought 

 to them by representatives of the Surgeon- 

 General's OflSce, of the Red Cross and of for- 

 eign nations as to the program for the care of 

 the disabled fighting men in order that they 

 may be returned to a useful civilian life. In 

 the meeting on the selective service, Lieuten- 

 ant-Colonel J. S. Easby Smith and Major 

 Hubert "Work, of the Provost Marshal-Gen- 

 eral's Office, were able to confer with the state 

 aides of the governors of the various states 

 who had been ordered to Chicago for this 

 meeting, and to inform the many physicians 

 representing the 23,000 physicians who are en- 

 gaged in the work of the local, district appeal, 

 and advisory boards under the selective serv- 

 ice law, concerning many points which had 

 not up to this time been made clear to them. 



The Thursday night session was again a 

 public, patriotic meeting. The Auditorium 

 was again filled to capacity, the music on this 

 occasion being provided by a detachment of 

 the Great Lakes Naval Training Station Band 

 and by group singing of the audience. 



The scientific and commercial exhibits were 

 open throughout the session and were note- 

 worthy for their practical and military fea- 

 tures. The commercial exhibit included prac- 

 tically all of the recently developed foods, 

 pharmaceuticals and mechanical devices re- 

 sulting from necessities created by the advance 

 of scientific knowledge and the military emer- 

 gency. 



Special arrangements were made for enter- 

 taining the medical women who attended the 

 session in large numbers and also for the 

 amusement of women guests. The entertain- 



ments included receptions, teas, a musical 

 and a visit to the Great Lakes Naval Train- 

 ing Station to attend the dedication of the 

 new Red Cross building. Arrangements had 

 also been made for a visit to the central de- 

 partment Red Cross headquarters and to local 

 merchandise and industrial plants. 



To add to the entertainment of the visitors 

 to this session, a medical motion picture show 

 was conducted throughout the session, numer- 

 ous reels of film lent by the Medical Depart- 

 ment of the United States Army being con- 

 tinuously exhibited, including the famous film 

 " Fit to Fight," prepared by the commission 

 on training camp activities. Captain H. M. 

 Strong, post surgeon at Rantoul, 111., was per- 

 mitted to visit the annual session in an aero- 

 plane, and arrived promptly on time in 

 Chicago, being greeted by the Fort Riley Band 

 and by many convention visitors. 



The meeting also served to infonn many 

 physicians who are about to enter the military 

 service concerning the routine of application 

 and appointment, equipment, assignment to 

 duty, etc. Medical military headquarters were 

 in continuous operation, in charge of medical 

 officers on active duty. Over 600 physicians 

 were given information, supplied with appli- 

 cation blanks, and many of them sent directly 

 to the local examiner for physical examina- 

 tion. 



The attendance at this session was the largest 

 since the Chicago session of 1908. The total, 

 5,553, is but a meager 800 less than that of 

 the 1908 session, and when one takes into con- 

 sideration the fact that about 20,000 physi- 

 cians are in active military service, that the 

 services of many physicians are continuously 

 needed by civilian communities and industrial 

 institutions, and that railroad rates are com- 

 paratively higher than they have ever before 

 been in the history of our country, the attend- 

 ance at this session may well be said to have 

 been phenomenal. No meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation has so successfully reached the public 

 as did this sixty-ninth annual session, and the 

 public showed its interest in the session and 

 in the work which the medical profession is 

 trying to accomplish, by attending in large 



