598 
The  Triple  Alliance 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<•    December,  19 17. 
the  recognition  of  professional  pharmacy  in  the  Army  as  being 
"  unnecessary "  and,  second,  that  if  recognized  it  might  necessitate 
the  manufacture  of  medicinal  preparations  by  Army  pharmacists, 
and  this  would  "  offend  "  the  large  manufacturing  pharmacists  of  the 
country  who  furnish  the  medical  supplies.  The  surgeon-general  is 
a  man  of  deep  penetration ;  in  this  instance,  however,  he  has  not 
given  the  subject  the  attention  it  deserves.  When  he  does  he  will 
be  more  liberal  and  appreciate  the  present  status. 
It  is  claimed  little  or  no  place  exists  in  military  medical  practice 
for  the  use  of  drugs,  that  the  vital  issues  are  surgical  and  sanitarial, 
and  that  drugs  "if"  (or  when)  needed,  can  be  met  by  the  use  of 
"  ready  to  use  "  products,  tablets  and  the  like,  conveniently  handed 
out  by  physicians,  or  by  privates  with  little  or  no  special  training. 
The  answer  to  this  is,  of  course,  that  proper  results  in  clinical 
work  cannot  be  attained  without  proper  and  adequate  tools.  One 
might  as  well  urge  that  the  Army  surgeon  should  use  "  First  Aid 
Packets  "  only  in  the  surgical  handling  of  the  wounded,  as  to  say 
that  the  military  surgeon  should  be  supplied  only  tablets  for  the 
treatment  of  diseased  conditions. 
The  men  of  the  trenches,  God  bless  them,  are  entitled  to  the 
best  possible  pharmaceutical  skill  as  well  as  other  skill  when  ill, 
fully  equivalent  to  what  is  available  in  civil  life.  Less  than  this  is 
rank  injustice  or  worse. 
In  normal  times  the  fighting  man,  it  is  true,  requires  little  medical 
treatment,  and,  also,  probably  during  the  first  year  of  a  war,  but 
when  bodies  of  our  boys  are  wrecked  and  being  repaired  surgically, 
however  skillfully  done,  diseased  conditions  supervene.  In  a  short 
time  all  army  hospitals  will  be  filled  to  overflowing,  not  only  with 
surgical,  but  also  with  medical  cases  demanding  highest  medical  skill 
to  reclaim.  Why  then  should  not  our  men  have  the  best  pharma- 
ceutical skill  to  make  more  effective  medical  skill? 
So  far  as  the  second  objection  of  the  surgeon-general  is  con- 
cerned, Editor  Mayo  of  the  American  Druggist  is  in  the  right  when 
he  says  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  fear  expressed  of  venality. 
The  first-class  manufacturing  pharmacists  of  this  country  are  as 
patriotic  as  any  other  group.  The  amount  of  government  business 
they  receive,  in  comparison  with  their  general  and  regular  business, 
is  exceedingly  small.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  government 
contracts  afford  them  negligible  profits.  They  might  be  glad  for 
relief  from  the  business.  Their  services  and  their  products  are 
offered  not  for  revenue  only,  but  from  patriotism. 
