10 



SCIENCE 



[N. is. Vol. XL VI. No. 1175 



to become of increasing significance with the 

 approaching depletion of those resources most 

 limited in quantity. 



Finally the science of geology can be made 

 of increased effectiveness in military activ- 

 ites through instruction of officers and mili- 

 tary students in the elements of military geol- 

 ogy. This may be acomplished at no great 

 cost of time, by means of a brief and simple 

 course of instruction given at military 

 schools and training camps, supplemented by 

 a manual which may be studied in the field. 

 A knowledge of the properties and structure 

 of the common rocks, and of the dependence 

 of topography upon geologic conditions, 

 would be of repeated usefulness to the officer 

 and add to his efficiency. Some geological 

 knowledge, at least, he must pick up in a 

 practical way; its systematic acquisition 

 might advantageously be made convenient for 

 him. 



Geology as a science is keenly alive to the 

 military service it can render. Many of its 

 members, its state and federal organizations, 

 and its principal societies, are actively at 

 work on plans for geologic research and the 

 immediate application of geologic knowledge 

 to the public welfare. But the most effective 

 service can not come from individual or class 

 initiative; it must await incorporation into 

 the general plans of governmental organiza- 

 tion, which to be effective will omit no advan- 

 tage that any department of knowledge can 

 give. 



The problem facing the geologist, at the 

 present moment, is not so much to apply his 

 knowledge as to lead military authorities to 

 see clearly the service that he is prepared to 

 render. 



Joseph E. Pogue 



Northwestern Universitt 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



TUBERCULOSIS AND THE FRENCH ARMY 



Dr. Herman M. Biggs of the New York 

 State Department of Health, in the Survey, 

 discusses tuberculosis in France as influenced 

 by war conditions. According to a summary 

 in the Journal of the American Medical As- 



sociation he states that while practically all 

 epidemic diseases which have heretofore been 

 scourges of armies in the field have been 

 brought under control in the present war, 

 tuberculosis has assumed a large part in the 

 sanitary history of ' the present struggle. 

 France is the country that has been hard hit 

 in this respect, though Biggs says that from 

 such data as are obtainable Austria, Hungary, 

 Russia, and perhaps to a less extent, Ger- 

 many, have likewise suffered. As contrasted 

 with England with 1 death from tuberculosis 

 per thousand, Wew York State with 1.5, 

 France before the war had 3 deaths per thou- 

 sand, and in many cities the rate was higher. 

 Biggs attributes this largely to the fact that 

 even before the war France paid little sys- 

 tematic attention to tuberculosis. It had not 

 been recognized by the sanitary authorities, 

 and even now it is not a notifiable disease. 

 With the advent of the war and the rapid 

 mobilization of the troops, with examinations 

 which were not sufficiently rigid, and with the 

 strenuous conditions imposed on troops in the 

 field, latent or arrested tuberculosis mani- 

 fested itself among the troops, and by the end 

 of December, 1915, 86,000 soldiers had been 

 returned to their homes with active tuber- 

 culosis. In February, 1917, it was estimated 

 that 150,000 had been returned for this cause. 

 Biggs believes that in addition 3 or 4 per 

 cent, of the population who formerly lived in 

 the departments now in German occupation 

 have the disease, which would mean another 

 125,000, based on a population of 4,250,000. 

 Half of these live back of the German lines, 

 partly in their own homes, partly in concen- 

 tration camps and partly deported into Ger- 

 many, many of whom have been returned on 

 accoimt of illness which made them a burden 

 to their captors. Biggs says that while he was 

 in Switzerland, of 20,000 of these people re- 

 turned, 5,000 were said to have tuberculosis, 

 though the estimated infection among those 

 deported into Germany has been placed at 

 5 or 6 per cent., which Biggs believes is con- 

 servative. Among the 350,000 or 400,000 

 French prisoners in Germany an estimate of 

 5 or 6 per cent, of tuberculous infection has 



