Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  19 17.  ■> 
the  French  Army. 
515 
the  duty  of  providing  the  medical  and  surgical  supplies  by  pur- 
chase or  manufacture  and  with  the  care,  distribution  and  dispensing 
thereof,  but  they  likewise  make  the  sanitary,  clinical  and  chemical 
examinations  for  the  armies  and  in  reality  these  pharmacists  are  the 
chemists  of  the  military  service  as  well  as  of  the  sanitary  service. 
Very  properly  courses  of  special  scientific  study  and  training  have 
been  established  for  the  education  of  the  personnel  of  these  corps 
and  under  the  regulations  the  military  pharmacy  student  must  apply 
himself  to  the  studies  and  in  the  required  examinations  demon- 
strate his  fitness  for  the  service.  These  rival  countries  in  the  exist- 
ing war,  have  exhibited  to  the  world. the  value  of  modern  pharma- 
ceutical and  chemical  service  to  the  army. 
The  French  pharmaceutical  military  service  has  rendered  to  that 
country,  during  this  war,  services  that  are  inestimable,  whether 
considered  solely  from  the  monetary  value  to  their  nation  or  as 
professional  and  humanitarian  benefits.  The  Pharmaceutical  Corps 
has  been  publicly  commended  "  as  having  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
most  effective,  active  and  intelligent  corps  of  the  French  Army." 
The  organization  and  the  duties  performed  by  the  French  Army 
Pharmaceutical  Corps  will  serve  as  a  model  for  the  proposed 
pharmaceutical  corps  of  the  United  States  army.  The  War  De- 
partment is  now  actively  engaged  in  organizing  an  American  army 
in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  the  French  army  organization  and 
our  forming  units  are  being  drilled  according  to  the  French  army 
methods.  Would  it  not  be  very  appropriate  at  this  time  for  the  War 
Department  to  likewise  adopt  our  ally's  scheme  of  pharmaceutical 
corps  cadre? 
The  history  of  the  pharmaceutical  corps  of  the  French  army, 
the  services  performed  therein  by  many  eminent  pharmacists,  the 
contentions  necessary  to  maintain  its  standing  and  to  overcome  the 
jealousies  of  other  branches  of  the  sanitary  service,  the  duties  as- 
signed from  time  to  time,  and  the  present  status  and  greatly  ex- 
tended usefulness  of  the  service,  are  interesting  subjects  of  study 
which  can  here  be  given  only  a  cursory  consideration. 
The  writer  is  very  largely  indebted  for  the  facts  presented  in 
this  paper  to  M.  Georges,  Chief  Pharmacist,  Military  Hospital  for 
Instruction,  Val  de  Grace ;  L.  Guignard,  Honorary  Director  ficole 
Superieure  de  Pharmacie,  Paris ;  Captain  Carl  Boyd,  Military 
Attache,  American  Embassy,  Paris,  and  above  all  to  Leon  Varenne, 
Phar.D.,  Pharmacist  Major  of  the  Army,  for  an  autograph  copy 
of  his  book  on  the  Pharmaceutical  Service  in  the  Army. 
