AXovemberPhi9ri™'  )     Pharmacy  in  the  Russian  Army.  753 
selected  and  trained  in  military  medical  establishments.  Feldshers 
trained  in  these  military  hospitals  are  appointed  to  companies, 
squadrons,  and  batteries,  and  are  junior  to  the  mladshi  aptechni 
feldshers,  who  are  employed  with  higher  military  formations  or  in 
hospitals.  Feldshers  may  rise  to  the  rank  of  "acting  officer,"  a 
grade  somewhat  inferior  to  that  of  second-lieutenant  in  our  army, 
but  the  majority  remain  non-commissioned  officers  all  their  lives. 
The  pharmacist  feldsher  in  civil  life  has  limited  powers  as  to  the 
sale  of  drugs  and  medicines  and  is  almost  exactly  comparable  with 
the  registered  druggist  in  Ireland. 
Nadzirateli  of  Hospital  Sergeants. 
The  feldshers  in  Russia,  like  the  doctors  and  pharmacist  officers, 
are  only  engaged  on  professional  duties.  They  have  no  purely 
military  duties  to  perform.  In  Russian  military  hospitals  the  duties 
of  ward  master  and  hospital  sergeant  are  performed  by  special 
personnel  called  nadzirateli.  Their  relationship  with  medical  and 
pharmacist  feldshers  is  peculiar  and  complicated.  They  give  way 
to  feldshers  in  all  professional  matters,  but  are  senior  to  them  in  all 
matters  of  discipline  and  military  precedence.  This  is  typical  of 
Russia,  where  the  representative  of  executive  authority  is  always 
superior  to  the  professional  or  technical  official,  however  highly 
trained.  The  result  was  that  a  vast  host  of  combatant  officers  were 
employed  in  command  of  hospitals  and  military  medical  formations 
of  all  kinds.  They  had  complete  control  over  supply,  general  man- 
agement, and  interior  economy.  In  peace-time  the  doctors  are 
barely  allowed  to  treat  their  patients  or  the  pharmacists  to  dispense 
their  medicines  secundum  art  em,  but  in  war  they  are  given  strictly 
limited  powers  of  command.  A  mladshi  vrach  when  carrying  out 
periodical  courses  of  instruction  was  not  even  allowed  to  command 
the  stretcher-bearers  of  his  unit.  A  combatant  officer  was  placed 
in  command  ostensibly  to  learn  the  stretcher  drill,  but  really  to 
prevent  a  mere  vrach  commanding  troops  on  any  form  of  parade. 
Under  the  Republican  regime  this  has  been  entirely  altered,  and 
some  of  the  highest  military  commands  are  held  by  doctors. 
Hospital  Rank  and  File. 
Non-commissioned  officers  for  medical  formations  are  drafted 
from  combatant  units.    As  in  all  other  Continental  armies  a  sharp 
