AmoSoberP^9r™'  }    Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  U.  S.  Army.  465 
PHARMACEUTICAL  CORPS  IN  U.  S.  ARMY. 
Brief  Submitted  to  Surgeon  General  Gorgas  Advocating  the  Establishing 
of  a  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  the  U.  S.  Army. 
Major  General  W.  C.  Gorgas, 
Surgeon  General  of  the  U.  S.  Army, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  On  July  24th  last,  a  conference  was  held  at  your  office 
between  a  board  of  army  medical  officers,  composed  of  Col.  George 
E.  Bushnell,  Majors  E.  P.  Wolf,  F.  F.  Russell  and  Stewart  Ma- 
guire,  and  a  committee  of  pharmacists,  at  which  was  discussed  the 
proposition  that  a  Pharmaceutical  Corps  be  established  as  a  branch 
of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army. 
At  the  close  of  this  conference,  it  was  agreed  that  the  under- 
signed should  prepare  for  the  consideration  of  the  Surgeon  General 
a  formal  argument  or  brief  setting  forth  the  views  of  the  pharma- 
cists as  to  the  needs  for  and  the  benefits  to  be  obtained  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Pharmaceutical  Corps. 
Pursuant  to  that  agreement,  this  statement  has  been  prepared 
and  is  presented  to  the  Surgeon  General  with  the  request  that  the 
facts  and  arguments  set  forth  herein  receive  his  official  considera- 
tion and  with  the  hope  that  the  importance  of  increasing  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  Medical  Department  by  the  establishment  of  a  Phar- 
maceutical Corps  will  be  so  impressed  upon  him  that  this  proposition 
will  merit  his  approval  and  endorsement. 
Pharmacy  a  Scientifically  Developed  Branch  of  Medicine. 
The  progress  of  the  medical  sciences  has  necessitated  differen- 
tiation and  specialization  and  this  has  separated  modern  medical 
practice  into  various  branches,  as  medicine,  surgery,  dentistry,  vet- 
erinary medicine  and  pharmacy.  The  pharmacist  is  now  scien- 
tifically and  systematically  trained  to  fill  a  specific  need  of  society. 
Upon  the  proper  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  pharmacist  the 
other  practitioners  of  medicine  are  compelled  to  rely.  Unless  the 
drugs  are  properly  selected  and  the  medicines  properly  prepared 
and  dispensed,  their  skill  goes  for  naught.  Upon  the  faithful  and 
capable  performance  of  the  work  of  the  pharmacist  depends  the 
