522 REVIEWS. 



gained in small campaigns against the Indians. This lack of experience 

 was still more marked among the medical officers of the National Guard 

 and among the other civilian physicians hastily called into the employ 

 of the Medical Department. The sources of information as to his 

 military duties available to the physician at that time were very limited. 

 Since 1898 a great number of articles on medico-military subjects have 

 appeared in the jDeriodicals of this and other countries. The Manual for 

 the Medical Department for our Army has been greatly enlarged, es- 

 pecially in the portion relating to the equipment and management 

 of the sanitary units in time of war, and the Field Service Regulations, 

 first published by our War Department in 1905, have carefully defined the 

 status and duties of the sanitary personnel in active service. The latest 

 addition to the literature of this subject is a volume entitled "Medical 

 Service In Campaign" prepared by Maj. Paul F. Straub, Medical Corps, 

 United States Army, under the direction of the Surgeon-General of the 

 Army and published by authority of the War Department. 



This book will prove of great value to all those connected with or 

 interested in the military service. It contains little that is original with 

 the author, but brings together hi a small compass a large amount of use- 

 ful information essential for the medical officer and which could 'otherwise 

 be obtained only after a study of many books or from the teaching of 

 considerable personal experience. The writer treats his subject in an up- 

 to-date yet conservative manner and warns the reader that the lessons 

 taught by our civil war are still of value in spite of improved weapons, 

 and that "the procedures which demonstrated their practical value in 

 earlier days should not be lightly thrown aside for new schemes evolved 

 from the inner consciousness of theorists." 



It was a common observation during the Spanish-American war that 

 many physicians just recruited from civil life were entirely unable to 

 grasp the importance of any of the functions of a medical officer other 

 than those pertaining to his purely medical and surgical work. Major 

 Straub, in writing of the degree of training necessary for the best interests 

 of an army, says: "This state of efficiency can only be brought about by 

 the requirement that, in addition to professional qualifications, medical 

 officers shall be sufficiently instructed in such purely military subjects 

 as may be necessary to enable them to act in harmony with the troops 

 they are serving." To this end he introduces a chapter on field orders, 

 their significance and interpretation, on map reading and on weapons 

 in so far as they influence the character of wounds or effect the selection 

 of suitable locations for hospitals and dressing stations. The text of 

 these chapters is supplemented by numerous maps, diagrams, and tables. 



The next chapter deals with the percentages of casualties, from both 

 disease and wounds, which have attended campaigns in the past and 

 which, as far as wounds are concerned, may be expected to be about 

 the same in the course of future hostilities. The writer gives tables 



