752  Pharmacy  in  the  Russian  Army.  {ANovemberPhi9i™' 
The  Russian  military  pharmacists  are  a  highly-trained  and  scien- 
tific body  of  men.  In  their  hands  are  placed  the  preparation, 
supply,  care,  and  dispensing  of  medical  supplies  of  all  kinds,  the 
supervision  and  charge  of  military  medical  store  depots,  the  charge 
of  analytical  and  bacteriological  laboratories,  and  of  Government 
factories  for  the  manufacture  of  surgical  instruments  and  druggists' 
sundries.  The  pharmacist  official  performs  only  the  higher 
branches  of  pharmaceutical  and  administrative  duties.  The  actual 
dispensing  and  the  bulk  of  the  duties  performed  by  the  sergeant 
and  corporal  dispensers  of  our  R.  A.  M.  C.  are  performed  by  dis- 
pensary feldshers,  a  body  of  subordinates. 
Feldshers. 
The  feldsher  is  a  peculiar  feature  of  the  Russian  army.  The 
term  is  applied  to  the  members  of  a  recognized  inferior  grade  of 
medical,  veterinary,  and  pharmaceutical  practitioners.  They  are 
found  in  both  civil  and  military  practice,  and  nothing  quite  like 
them  exists  anywhere  except  India,  where  there  are  two  bodies  of 
medical  public  servants  who  correspond  more  or  less  exactly  with 
the  Russian  feldshers.  There  are  (a)  the  former  apothecaries  and 
(&)  the  former  hospital  assistants.  The  first-named  are  now  called 
assistant-surgeons  and  the  latter  sub-assistant-surgeons.  Both  are 
employed  in  civil  as  well  as  in  military  practice.  Both  are  regarded 
as  qualified  to  practise  outside  the  army — the  apothecaries  among 
all  classes  and  the  hospital  assistants  among  the  native  community. 
In  the  Russian  army  the  feldshers  are  the  professional  assistants  of 
both  medical  and  pharmacist  officers,  and  may  take  their  place  just 
as  the  assistant-surgeon  in  India  often  acts  for  an  R.  A.  M.  C.  officer 
and  the  sub-assistant-surgeon  for  an  officer  of  the  Indian  Medical 
Service.  Medical  and  pharmaceutical  feldshers  in  Russia  are 
trained  either  before  entering  or  while  serving  with  the  army. 
Only  the  first  class  is  qualified  for  civil  practice,  and  this  class  may 
be  trained  in  a  civil  or  military  medical  school.  If  trained  in  a 
military  medical  school  he  must  serve  one  and  a  half  years  with 
the  active  army  for  each  year  of  instruction  received,  and  the 
feldsher  course  lasts  three  years.  Appointments  are  made  by  dis- 
trict army  medical  inspectors,  and  the  pharmacist  feldsher  on  ap- 
pointment gets  the  sonorous  title  of  mladshi  aptechni  (feldsher). 
For  the  second  class  of  feldsher  soldiers  from  combatant  units  are 
