472  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  U.  S.  Army.    { Amo£tXeVP?9™' 
national  suicide.  To  place  a  skilled  army  surgeon  in  charge  of  a 
medical  supply  depot  to  look  after  the  procuring  and  distribution 
of  medical  and  hospital  supplies  and  the  accounting  thereof  is,  to 
say  the  least,  wasteful  of  his  special  talent  that  may  be  sorely  needed 
elsewhere.  The  military  surgeon  has  more  than  enough  to  do,  to 
attend  to  the  strictly  medical  needs  of  the  sick  and  wounded  and  to 
make  the  necessary  examinations  and  reports. 
The  medical  profession  is  now  asking  for  higher  rank  for  the 
Medical  Corps  of  the  Army  and  the  increased  authority  that  accom- 
panies rank  in  the  military  service.  Attention  is  likewise  being 
directed  to  the  need  for  skilled  and  adequate  assistance  and  for 
relief  from  the  non-medical  work  imposed  upon  the  Medical  Corps. 
In  a  recent  article  Dr.  J.  Madison  Taylor  writes : 
"In  my  judgment  there  is  grave  peril  that  in  the  near  future 
the  demands  upon  the  medical  service  will  be  so  many  and  serious 
that  it  may  break  down  from  overwork.  It  is  to  prevent  this,  to 
anticipate,  that  we  make  the  constructive  suggestion,  that  steps  be 
taken  immediately  to  provide  a  sufficient  number  of  assistants  skilled 
in  all  these  branches  of  service  required  for  the  Medical  Corps. 
"  The  medical  man  of  the  Army  and  Navy  comes  nearest  to 
realizing  this  symbolic  and  wholly  imaginary  embodiment  of  omnis- 
cience, but  in  view  of  the  terrific  demands  made  upon  him  by  mod- 
ern warfare  in  time  and  work,  if  ever  a  man  needed  skilled  and 
adequate  assistance  he  is  the  man,  and  yet  our  Army  and  Navy  is 
proceeding  in  the  upbuilding  of  its  medical  service  along  the  old, 
old  lines  of  expecting  the  medical  men  to  '  do  it  all.'  The  military 
service  of  France,  Germany,  Japan  and  other  countries  gives  its 
medical  men  proper  and  sufficient  assistance.  We  should  do  no 
less ;  we  ought  to  do  more."1 
It  is  very  appropriate  that  the  medical  profession,  in  this  time 
of  exigency,  should  recognize  that  pharmacy  is  the  rational  support 
of  medicine  and  that  the  pharmacist,  specially  educated  in  the  col- 
lateral medical  sciences  and  skilled  by  years  of  practical  training, 
is  prepared  to  give  that  assistance  and  support  that  is  needed  by 
the  Medical  Corps. 
It  is  very  gratifying  to  note  that  the  leaders  in  the  medical  pro- 
fession are  outspoken  in  their  support  of  pharmacy  as  a  necessary 
1  "  Give  the  Military  Surgeon  Skilled  and  Adequate  Assistance.  He  can- 
not do  it  all."  J.  Madison  Taylor,  M.D.,  New  York  Medical  Journal,  July 
21,  1917. 
