554 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I-     August,  1 918. 
rience,  education,  examination  and  licensure  of  those  entrusted  with 
the  dispensing-  of  medicines,  nevertheless  the  military  authorities  of 
the  nation  ignore  the  necessity  for  a  like  protection  for  the  soldiers 
and  permit  potent,  and  even  the  most  toxic,  drugs  to  be  dispensed 
by  incompetent  men  without  any  pharmaceutical  experience  or  edu- 
cation. To  continue  such  practice  is  to  continue  to  invite  calamities 
and  to  perpetually  expose  those  in  the  military  service  to  untoward 
accidents  and  untimely  deaths. 
Whereas,  It  is  regrettable  that  the  United  States  with  its  pro- 
gressive spirit  and  commanding  position  and  its  enormous  resources 
should  in  this  respect  be  found  lagging  and  to  have  a  medical  de- 
partment of  the  army  not  fully  abreast  with  medical  departments  of 
the  armies  of  other  nations.  In  the  armies  of  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  Japan,  Italy,  Spain,  Belgium,  Holland,  Switzerland,  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  and  in  the  colonial  armies  of  Australia  and  Canada, 
there  are  organized  pharmaceutical  corps  with  recognized  commis- 
sions and  responsibilities  aiding  ably  the  medical  officers  in  safe- 
gurading  the  troops  in  these  armies.  The  United  States,  that  can 
well  afford  to  give  to  the  men  in  her  military  service  the  best,  should 
not  do  less  than  these  other  nations ;  yet  we  have,  at  present,  no 
pharmaceutical  corps  in  either  the  army  or  navy. 
Therefore,  It  is  Resolved  by  the  Ninth  Annual  Convention  of 
the  International  Association  of  Rotary  Clubs,  that  the  establish- 
ment of  a  pharmaceutical  corps  in  the  United  States  Army  as  pro- 
posed by  Bill  H.  R.  No.  5531,  introduced  by  Hon.  George  W.  Ed- 
monds of  Philadelphia,  and  now  pending  before  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  be  endorsed.  We 
urge  that  the  medical  department  of  the  army  be  speedily  reorgan- 
ized to  permit  of  this  needed  additional  safeguard  to  our  soldiers, 
and  to  guarantee  to  the  men  in  the  military  service  the  same  efficient 
pharmaceutical  service  that  the  States  assure  in  civil  life  and  that  is 
now  so  generally  vouchsafed  to  the  armies  of  most  of  the  other 
nations. 
G.  M.  B. 
THE  COLLECTION  OF  SPHAGNUM  MOSS. 
Sphagnum  moss  is  being  extensively  collected  in  England  and 
her  colonies  for  use  as  a  surgical  dressing.  A  number  of  eminent 
English  surgeons  and  the  arm)-  medical  service  have  endorsed  its 
use  in  the  present  emergency  and  one  eminent  surgeon  has  declared 
