September 28, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



305 



friendly rivalry with Europe — for it is to be hoped 

 that in the field of scientific research, there will be 

 no trace of any but friendly attitude toward any 

 of the European countries.- America will ulti- 

 mately lead in idealistic endeavors. It would have 

 done so, war or no war. The thing that will help 

 more than any other to give leadership, is to have 

 the universities make a special effort to gather the 

 funds needed, to enable the men specially gifted in 

 research to do their utmost. 



Having secured the building, Mr. President, 

 I hope you will provide the money to enable 

 the men who are to be housed in it to do their 



C. H. ElGENMANN 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



RECONSTRUCTION HOSPITALS AND ORTHO- 

 PEDIC SURGERY 



The Surgeon General of the Army, Major 

 General William C. Gorgas, authorizes the 

 publication of the statement that the whole 

 conception of governmental and national re- 

 sponsibility for caring for the woimded has 

 undergone radical change during the months 

 of study given the subject by experts serving 

 with the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps and 

 others consulting with them. Instead of the 

 old idea that responsibility ended with the re- 

 turn of the soldier to private life with his 

 wounds healed and such pension as he might 

 be given, it is now considered that it is the 

 duty of the government to equip and reeducate 

 the wounded man, after healing his wounds, 

 and to return him to civil life ready to be as 

 useful to himself and his country as possible. 



To carry out this idea plans are well under 

 way for building " reconstruction hospitals " in 

 large centers of population. Sites have been 

 chosen, though not all finally approved, in the 

 following cities: Boston, New York, Phila- 

 delphia, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, Cin- 

 cinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, Seattle, San Fran- 

 cisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City, St. 

 Louis, Memphis, Richmond, Atlanta, and New 

 Orleans. Those in Boston, New York, Wash- 

 ington, and Chicago will probably be con- 

 structed first. Each will be built as a 500-bed 



- This letter was written before the United States 

 entered the war. 



hospital, but with provision for enlargement 

 to 1,000 beds if needed. 



These hospitals will not be the last step in 

 the return of the wounded soldiers to civil life. 

 When the soldiers are able to take up indus- 

 trial training, further provision will be ready. 

 The injured man may be retrained to his 

 previous occupation to conform with his handi- 

 capped condition or retrained for a new in- 

 dustry compatible with that condition. Addi- 

 tional education will be given to those fitted 

 for it, and men may in some cases be returned 

 to more valuable work than that from which 

 they were called to war. Workshops will be 

 provided at the hospitals, but arrangements 

 will also be made with outside industries 

 whereby more elaborate methods of training- 

 may be carried on. An employment bureau 

 will be established to place men so trained in 

 different parts of the United States, 



This whole matter comes under the depart- 

 ment of military orthopedic surgery recently 

 organized in the Medical Department of the 

 Army. The following officers of the Medical 

 Reserve Corps are in charge of the work: 

 Major Elliott G. Brackett, of Boston, director 

 of the department of military orthopedics to 

 the Surgeon General; Major Joel E. Gold- 

 thwait, of Boston, director of military ortho- 

 pedics for the expeditionary forces; Major 

 David Silver, of Pittsburgh, assistant director 

 of military orthopedics to the Surgeon Gen- 

 eral. The following, in conjmiction with the 

 above staff, compose the orthopedic council; 

 Dr. Fred H. Albee, of New York; Dr. G. 

 Gwilym Davis, of Philadelphia; Dr. Albert H. 

 Freiberg, of Cincinnati ; Dr. Robert W. Lovett, 

 of Boston ; and Dr. John L. Porter, of Chicago. 



Arrangements have been made by the de- 

 partment of military orthopedics to care for 

 soldiers, so far as orthopedics (the prevention 

 of deformity) is concerned, continuously imtil 

 they are returned either to active service or 

 civil life. Orthopedic surgeons will be at- 

 tached to the medical force near the firing line 

 and to the different hospitals back to the base 

 orthopedic hospital, which will be established 

 within 100 miles of the firing line. In this 

 hospital, in addition to orthopedic surgical 



