468  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  U.  S.  Army.  {Amol™b^l™' 
Expedition  in  Mesopotamia  present  a  most  harrowing  account  of  a 
horrible  calamity.  The  intolerable  suffering  of  the  soldiers  through 
the  lack  of  medical  attention  is  not  only  deplorable,  but  it  is  inex- 
plicable that  in  a  modern  army,  existing  under  the  present  status 
of  medical  knowledge,  such  a  condition  could  possibly  have  oc- 
curred. Upon  the  insufficiency  of  the  medical  provisions  and  the 
inefficiency  of  the  Medical  Department  much  of  the  blame  for  the 
collapse  of  this  unfortunate  expedition  is  now  officially  placed.  No 
more  striking  example  of  the  danger  of  following  obsolete  methods 
could  be  presented. 
Ready  Made  Medicines  a  Source  of  Danger. 
The  statement  has  been  officially  made  that  "  the  pharmaceutical 
preparations  of  the  Army,  especially  in  time  of  war,  are  for  the 
most  part  in  tabloid  form ;  the  pharmacy  is  therefore  a  matter  of 
dispensing  rather  than  of  compounding  of  preparations."  This 
indicates  that  pharmacy  as  practiced  in  the  U.  S.  Army  is  very 
elemental  indeed  and  that  even  the  very  basic  ideas  of  professional 
pharmacy  are  ignored.  Such  service  must  necessarily  be  far  from 
being  satisfactory  or  efficient  or  protective  of  the  interests  it  is  sup- 
posed to  serve. 
On  the  battle  line  and  in  the  advanced  positions,  drug  dispensing 
is  necessarily  limited  and  confined  mainly  to  first  aid.  However,  in 
the  hospitals  and  in  the  convalescent  homes  and  infirmaries  treat- 
ment is  given  to  many  sufferers  from  disease  as  well  as  the  wounded 
and  here  will  be  found  thousands  of  cases  requiring  continuous  and 
extensive  treatment  and  such  cases  will  rapidly  multiply  as  the  war 
is  prolonged.  To  seriously  propose  that  such  shall  be  treated  with 
"  canned  medicines  "  in  "  tablet  form  "  and  denied  the  services  of 
competent  compounders  of  medicines,  is  certainly  not  in  accordance 
with  our  present  knowledge  of  what  is  essential  to  conserve  life, 
whether  in  time  of  peace  or  "  in  time  of  war." 
Tablets  are  for  some  purposes  a  very  convenient  and  useful 
dosage  form,  but  for  many  purposes  and  for  many  medicines  they 
are  absolutely  unfitted.  Not  infrequently,  where  prompt  and  relia- 
ble action  is  necessary,  the  conscientious  physician  is  compelled  to 
select  some  other  form  of  modification.  The  most  serious  evil  re- 
sulting from  this  "  ready  made  medicine  "  and  tablet  dosage  is  that 
too  often  the  patient  is  made  to  fit  the  tablet  on  hand  instead  of  a 
remedy  being  prescribed  to  fit  the  needs  of  the  patient.    There  can 
