November 9, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



449 



transporting- permanentlj' disabled United 

 States soldiers from abroad. Only tliose men 

 will be returned home who are permanently 

 disabled or who have a contemplated con- 

 valescence of six months. The experience of 

 the allies, it was stated, indicates that about 

 10 per cent, of the wounded are permanently 

 disabled. 



On their return home the American soldiers 

 will receive not only adequate medical treat- 

 ment but will also be afforded the extra facili- 

 ties of special hospitals built with the idea 

 in view of rehabilitating physically and re- 

 educating industrially our incapacitated sol- 

 diers. It is also contemplated to devote spe- 

 cial hospitals in France to the treatment of 

 special diseases, such, for example, as tuber- 

 culosis or injuries of the head, brain, eyes, 

 ears, or face. 



General Gorgas announced the fundamental 

 policy of adhering to the Manual of 1914, 

 which provides that the military hospitals 

 shall consist of three general divisions, medi- 

 cine, surgery, and laboratories. Under this 

 type of organization the specialties will have 

 full scope and yet come under adequate medi- 

 cal or surgical control and direction. 



The Clinical Congress of Surgeons of 

 North America is an organization founded 

 seven years ago by Dr. Franklin H. Martin, 

 of the advisory commission of the Council of 

 National Defense, of Chicago. Surgical 

 demonstrations were held at 25 important 

 Chicago hospitals and programs were arranged 

 almost exclusively along medico-military lines. 



France was represented by Colonel C. 

 Dercle and England by Colonel T. H. Good- 

 win, R. A. M. C. Sir Berkeley Moynihan 

 presented the activities of the British Army 

 and Major George W. Crile, M. R. C, detailed 

 the American medical activities in France. 



After Colonels E. L. Munson and F. F. 

 Russell had outlined the work of the Sur- 

 geon General's office in organizing the medical 

 officers' training camps and the various mili- 

 tary laboratories. Sir Berkeley Moynihan con- 

 tributed an exposition of wound treatment in 

 the British Army. He explained in detail the 

 search for satisfactory antiseptic drugs and 



ventured the novel axiom that wounds did 

 best when merely carefully cleaned, put at 

 rest, and kept free from contact with any drug 

 or antiseptic. His address attracted much at- 

 tention because it was the first authoritative 

 denial of the universal efficacy of the now 

 famous Carrel-Dakin technique of wound 

 treatment. 



Major G. W. Crile, in discussing the ad- 

 dress of Sir Berkeley, corroborated all that 

 he said. Short addresses were made by Drs. 

 Edward Martin, E. H. Dunham, and W. E. 

 Lee, all of Philadelphia. By means of a 

 moving-picture demonstration and the detail- 

 ing of experimental and clinical data, they 

 showed how much could be done for clean 

 wound healing by the new antiseptic, Dichlor- 

 amine-T, which is being investigated under 

 instructions from the Surgeon General's office. 

 Dr. William O'lSTeill Sherman, who presented 

 evidence of the efficacy of the Dakin-Carrel 

 method of wound treatment, closed the Tues- 

 day evening program. 



In addition to the usual committee reports, 

 the meeting of the general medical board was 

 livened by two instructive reports from Sir 

 Berkeley and Major Crile. Sir Berkeley 

 showed the remarkable efficiency developed by 

 the Medical Corps of the British forces, and 

 this despite the fact that 96 per cent, of the 

 doctors were civilian physicians at the out- 

 break of the war. This efficiency is attribut- 

 able, among other things, to the two important 

 factors of " surgical teamwork " and surgical 

 consultants. The principle of surgical team- 

 work was learned in the United States, said 

 Sir Berkeley, and the principle of consultants 

 (these consultants are picked from the leading 

 surgical minds of Britain) was evolved from 

 the necessity of having some one authoritative 

 group to direct and correlate medical activi- 

 ties consecutively from the field dressing sta- 

 tions back to the base hospital. 



Major Crile outlined this plan for the so- 

 called clinical sector, which in brief is made 

 up of a team of men, selected preferably from 

 a university or hospital where they have previ- 

 ously worked in unison, and now distributed 

 among the dressing, field, evacuation, and 



