Am.jour.^harm.j    Australian  Army  Medical  Corps.  735 
cently  been  projected  to  combine  many  private  and  small  concerns. 
Therefore  no  accurate  and  up-to-date  estimate  of  its  production  can 
be  obtained,  but  it  is  said  that  the  total  value  of  the  annual  produc- 
tion is,  roughly,  3,000,000,000  yen.  In  Japan  itself  only  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  output  is  used  in  foodstuffs,  the  bulk  being  exported. 
In  191 5  the  shipments  were  2,202,613  lb.,  valued  at  1,706,064  yen, 
but  in  1 91 6,  owing  to  increased  demand  and  rising  prices,  the  value 
reached  2,446,862  yen,  while  the  volume  stood  at  2,785,710  lb.  Last 
year  the  shipments  fell  to  2,102,629  lb.  and  the  .value  to  1,954,983 
yen.  Before  the  war  China  and  Germany  were  the  largest  buyers, 
but  since  the  war  the  United  Kingdom,  Russia,  and  China  have  been 
the  largest  buyers ;  now  the  United  States  hold  the  first  position. 
As  to  the  after-war  prospects,  the  Japanese  Government  issued  a 
hopeful  statement  some  time  ago  in  one  of  its  reports,  but  much 
doubt  is  entertained  respecting  this  year's  trade. 
THE  PHARMACY  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  AUSTRALIAN 
ARMY  MEDICAL  CORPS.1 
The  Australian  Pharmacy  Department  of  the  A.  M.  C.  (writes 
Mr.  G.  E.  Gibbard,  editor  of  the  Canadian  Pharmaceutical  Journal) 
is  the  first  independent  pharmacy  department  organized  in  any  army 
of  any  state  in  the  British  Empire,  or  even  any  Anglo-Saxon  coun- 
try, and  although  in  operation  barely  two  years,  has  "  made  good  " 
so  effectively  that  its  influence  is  expected  to  produce  a  reform  in 
the  armies  of  the  entire  empire. 
The  organization  is  simple  and  effective,  including  in  its  opera- 
tions both  the  home  and  overseas  forces. 
The  members  of  the  pharmacy  corps  are  exclusively  qualified 
pharmacists,  enlisted  under  conditions  similar  to  those  which  prevail 
with  the  other  units  of  the  A.  M.  C,  physicians,  dentists  and  vet- 
erinaries.    The  officers  are  : 
Senior  major,  who  ranks  as  staff  officer  of  pharmacy  service  on 
the  staff  of  the  director-general  of  the  A.  M.  C.  This  position  is 
now  held  by  Major  Cossar,  who  was  first  appointed  Hon.  Captain, 
promoted  to  Hon.  Major,  and  again  to  full  ranking  major. 
Next  in  rank  is  captain.  The  chief  senior  pharmacy  officer  of 
each  state. 
1  Reprinted  from  The  Australasian  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  July  20,  1918. 
