AOctote,^T)     Pharmacy  in  the  Belgian  Army.  677 
sonnel.  The  medical  officer  in  charge  demands  such  clothing,  bed- 
ding, and  diets  as  he  may  require,  and  what  corresponds  to  a  Royal 
Army  Service  Corps  officer,  or  subordinate,  furnishes  him  with  his 
requirements  and  looks  after  the  furnishing,  lighting  and  cleanliness 
of  every  part  of  the  hospital  except  the  actual  wards.  This  system 
of  dual  control  is  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  arrangements  of  our  own 
Army,  where  the  R.  A.  M.  C.  officer  in  command  is  responsible  for 
every  detail  of  its  organization,  and  where  practically  all  the  work 
of  the  unit  is  carried  out  by  medical  personnel.  In  order  to  under- 
stand how  the  pharmacist  officer  tits  into  the  Belgian  fighting 
machine  it  is  necessary,  as  in  the  case  of  the  French  and  Italian 
armies,  briefly  to  glance  at  the  field  medical  organization  of  the 
Army.  The  organization  corresponds  very  closely  to  that  of  the 
French,  but  the  formations  have  different  names.  It  comprises  the 
following : 
1.  The  Regimental  Medical  Service. 
2.  Les  Colonnes  d' Ambulance,  corresponding  to  the  French 
Army. 
3.  Les  Hopitaux  Volants,  corresponding  to  the  French  am- 
bulances. 
Later  in  the  war  the  official  title  was  dropped,  and  the  term  am- 
bulance adopted.  The  Regimental  Medical  Service  is  organized  on 
French  lines,  and  each  regiment  has  a  little  medical  hierarchy  of  its 
own.  directly  under  the  Colonel  du  regiment,  as  in  the  French  sys- 
tem, but  there  was  a  tendency  to  attach  Pharmaciens  to  regiments, 
as  a  feature  of  the  Belgian  Service  is  the  establishment  of  Infir- 
meries  du  regiment  for  the  treatment  of  trivial  cases.  One  point 
about  all  these  little  regimental  hospitals  was,  throughout  the  war,  a 
well-equipped  and  well-organized  pharmacy.  The  Colonne  d' Am- 
bulance functions  exactly  like  the  French  Groupcs  des  Brancardiers 
Divisionnaires  or  the  Bearer-Division  of  a  British  Field  Ambulance. 
There  is  a  PJiarmacien  and  a  Pharmacien  Adjoint  with  each  unit 
and,  in  addition  to  pharmaceutical  duties,  the  pharmacist  officers 
function  as  analysts  and  gas  officers  in  the  same  manner  as  their 
confreres  in  the  French  Service  de  Sante. 
The  Field  Hospitals. 
The  Hoptiaux  Volants  in  the  Belgian  Army  have  each  got  a 
Pharmacien  officer,  and  usually  two  Pharmaciens  Suppleants.  As 
