466  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  U.  S.  Army.    { Am6Jt°oUberP1i9^' 
success  of  the  medical  profession,  and,  likewise,  the  lives  of  the 
patients. 
American  pharmacists  hold  a  prominent  position  in  the  world 
development  of  their  profession.  The  United  States  Pharmacopoeia 
ranks  as  the  peer  of  any  national  pharmacopoeia.  In  the  more  re- 
cent revisions  of  this  authority,  the  pharmacists  have  contributed 
very  largely  the  chemistry,  botany  and  pharmacognosy  of  the  stand- 
ards as  well  as  most  of  the  formulas  contained  therein.  The  other 
legal  authority  for  medicines,  the  National  Formulary,  has  been  pre- 
pared entirely  by  a  committee  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  As- 
sociation. It  is  inconceivable  that  the  War  Department  should 
ignore  this  important  branch  of  the  medical  professions  and  to-day 
has  not  commissioned  in  its  service  a  single  eminent  pharmacist. 
Pharmacy  is  recognized  as  the  right  arm  of  medicine  in  civil  life 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  this  position  is  lost  in  military  duty. 
The  value  of  pharmacy  as  a  national  asset  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of,  especially  in  the  present  exigency,  when  it  must  be  recog- 
nized that  the  success  of  our  Nation  in  this  war  will  depend  upon 
the  proper  utilization  of  every  available  talent.  It  is  just  as  repre- 
hensible to  waste  talent  as  to  waste  materials.  The  former  is  as 
much  the  property  of  the  citizenship  as  is  the  latter  and  they  are 
entitled  to  its  conservation  and  the  protection  which  it  affords. 
The  Soldier  is  the  Ultimate  Concern  of  the  Medical 
Department. 
Those  in  the  military  service  of  the  nation  are  entitled  to  the 
very  best  medical  attention  that  the  government  can  procure.  A 
nation  that  is  proclaimed  as  the  wealthiest  and  as  the  most  pro- 
gressive of  all  nations  must  not  assume  any  second  place  in  provid- 
ing means  for  the  preservation  of  the  health  and  lives  of  those 
serving  in  its  army.  The  people  of  the  United  States  will  expect 
the  Medical  Department  to  adopt  the  most  efficient  methods  for  the 
conservation  of  the  health  and  lives  of  our  soldiers  and  for  the 
recuperation  of  the  unfortunate  wounded. 
Surgeon  General  Geo.  J.  H.  Evatt  of  the  British  Army  very 
aptly  stated :  "  That  the  Medical  Department  existed  for  the  indi- 
vidual benefit  of  the  soldier  and  if  they  failed  in  their  duty  to  him 
they  were  not  faithfully  discharging  their  obligation.  The  ultimate 
soldier  was  the  person  whom  they  all  served." 
