Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
September,  19 17.  * 
Advances  in  Pharmacy. 
417 
patient  and  the  physician.  If  the  physician  should  by  chance  write 
for  an  over-dose  of  a  potent  medicine — and  there  are  cases  in  which 
he  has  been  known  to  do  that  very  thing — the  law  holds  the  pharma- 
cist responsible.  Has  the  soldier  of  the  regular  army  the  same  pro- 
tection? Will  our  sons  and  brothers  who  have  volunteered  and 
been  selected  for  the  new  National  Army  have  every  safeguard  in 
this  respect?  We  are  constrained  to  utter  an  emphatic  no !  Not  if 
the  present  method  of  medicinal  administration  is  continued. 
As  for  pharmaceutical  work,  there  certainly  can  be  none,  or  at 
best,  very  little  done.  The  army  physician  must  rely  very  largely 
on  manufacturing  pharmacists  for  practically  all  of  the  pharma- 
ceutical preparations  prescribed  by  him.  Is  he  capable  of  assaying 
these?  And  would  it  be  possible  for  him  to  find  time  for  such  work 
even  if  he  were  capable  of  such  work?  Will  he  find  time  to  make 
any  of  the  simplest  tests  for  chemicals,  etc.?  Even  now  we  hear 
it  rumored  that  the  government  is  experiencing  much  difficulty  in 
getting  the  adequate  quota  of  doctors  for  the  first  army. 
Granting  that  the  army  will  be  able  to  mobilize  the  necessary 
number  of  physicians,  experiences  related  by  keen  observers  from 
the  theatre  of  war  teem  with  information  as  to  the  busy  times  the 
medical  men  are  having  and  the  tremendous  strain  that  the  whole 
field  of  medical  and  surgical  organization  is  subjected  to.  Under 
such  conditions  it  will  be  absolutely  impossible  for  the  medical  men 
to  interest  themselves  in  the  drug  supply  of  the  army  and  neither 
should  the  government  expect  it  of  them.  It  is  not  right  that  they 
should  have  this  burden  put  on  them  and  the  sooner  it  is  removed 
and  placed  where  it  rightly  belongs  the  better  for  the  fighting  men 
of  the  army  and  the  medical  men  themselves.  To  right  thinking 
men  and  women  the  logical  solution  of  such  an  anomalous  condi- 
tion is  proper  organization  of  the  pharmaceutical  ability  of  the 
country  for  service  in  the  army.  If  physicians,  dentists  and  veter- 
inarians are  given  recognition  for  their  special  ability  and  training, 
by  the  government,  why  may  not  the  same  official  recognition  be 
given  to  the  men  of  the  pharmaceutical  profession?  In  no  period 
in  the  whole  history  of  the  world  was  it  ever  more  necessary  for  the 
intelligent  cooperation  of  service  and  special  ability  than  it  is  in  this 
epoch-making  time.  It  is  the  solemn  duty  of  a  nation  to  take  special 
care  of  the  health  of  its  fighting  men,  and  the  people  of  this  country 
should  demand  that  Congress. enact  the  necessary  legislation  for  the 
creation  of  a  pharmaceutical  corps  of  the  army.    Such  an  act,  pro- 
