674  Pharmacy  in  the  Belgian  Army.  ^^oJohtr 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
919. 
potent  in  respect  to  the  factor  under  discussion.  Hess  and  Unger 
assure  us  that  it  would  be  an  error  to  infer  from  such  experiments 
as  are  now  on  record  that  milk  necessarily  loses  its  antiscorbutic 
potency  when  it  is  reduced  to  a  dry  state.  Enough  specific  instances 
of  contradictory  facts  are  on  record  to  warn  us,  on  the  one  hand, 
against  condemning  canned  goods  or  dehydrated  vegetables  of  their 
analogues  from  the  standpoint  of  their  vitamin  potency;  or  of 
praising  any  of  them  without  specific  information  as  to  each  product. 
The  offhand  statements  which  are  beginning  to  emanate  from 
partisan  or  inadequately  informed  sources  must  not  be  accepted. 
The  time  is  not  yet  ripe  for  "  expert  opinions  "  that  are  all  compre- 
hensive in  their  information.  Knowledge  in  relation  to  vitamins  is 
in  the  making.  Fortunately,  at  the  point  where  chemical  analysis 
utterly  fails,  the  physiologic  experiment  is  proving  to  be  a  depend- 
able guide.   Let  us  get  the  facts  first  of  all. 
PHARMACY  IN  THE  BELGIAN  ARMY.1 
The  medical  service  of  the  Belgian  Army  is  very  far  from  being 
a  concrete  body  of  officers  and  men — like  our  Royal  Army  Medical 
Corps — charged  with  doing  anything  and  everything  for  the 
wounded  or  sick  soldier  anywhere  or  at  any  time.  The  Corps  de 
Sante  Militaire  includes  medical  officers,  pharmacists,  and  veterinary 
officers.  The  Medical  Service  consists  of  the  medical  and  pharma- 
ceutical officers  of  this  corps  plus  the  hospital  section  of  the  Batail- 
lon  d' Administration. 
Rank  and  Titles. 
In  the  Belgian  Army  the  position  of  doctors  and  pharmacists  is 
very  similar  to  the  status  they  hold  in  the  French  Army.  Neither 
medical  nor  pharmaceutical  officers  have  military  titles,  and,  in  con- 
sequence, they  have  not  the  standing  in  their  Army  which  long  ex- 
perience has  proved  in  our  own  and  other  armies  can  alone  be 
secured  by  a  military  title.  The  following  are  the  titles  held  by 
medical  officers  in  Belgium : 
Mcdecin  Inspecteur-General,  ranking  with  major-general. 
Medecin  Principal  de  ire  Classe,  ranking  with  colonel. 
1  From  The  Chemist  and  Druggist,  August  30,  1919. 
