458  Pharmacy  in  the  Italian  Army.     { Am'^\Y'^>ig*m' 
officers,  one  pharmacist,  two  quartermasters,  thirty-eight  rank  and 
file. 
The  Director  of  Medical  Services  of  the  Italian  Corps  takes  over 
all  wounded  and  sick  at  the  Posto  Smistamento,  or  divisional  dress- 
ing-stations of  his  divisions,  and  distributes  the  cases  to  these  field 
hospitals.  The  Ospedal  di  Campo  therefore  act  as  casualty  clearing 
stations  for  the  divisions.  They  are  mobile,  but  may  be  immobilized 
for  special  work,  such  as  infectious  hospitals.  On  the  plains  they 
are  located  in  palaces,  villas,  schools  or  theaters,  but  in  the  moun- 
tains special  wooden  huts  are  erected  for  them  by  the  engineers. 
All  are  furnished  with  collapsible  iron  beds,  sheets  and  blankets. 
In  all  these  hospitals  special  attention  is  given  to  the  Farmacia, 
which  I  found  invariably  well  stocked  and  equipped. 
Disinfection  and  Water-Supervision  Unit. — With  each 
corps  is  a  special  unit,  corresponding,  more  or  less,  with  our  sanitary 
sections,  but  equivalent  in  strength  to  four  of  our  sanitary  forma- 
tions. There  is  a  medical  officer  in  charge,  a  pharmacist  officer,  two 
engineer  officers,  and  one  hundred  other  ranks. 
The  pharmacist  officer  is  the  consulting  chemist  and  analyst  of 
the  section,  and,  by  virtue  of  his  position,  the  adviser  on  all  chemical 
matters  to  the  Director  of  Medical  Services  of  the  Army  Corps.  In 
an  Italian  Arrhy  Corps  he,  therefore,  holds  a  responsible  and  hon- 
orable position  which  has  no  analogue  in  the  British  service. 
3.  Army. — An  Italian  Army  consists  of  a  group  of  three  or 
more  army  corps.  The  medical  services  of  each  Army  is  under  the 
direction  of  a  Direttore  di  Sanita  d'Armata,  who  is  a  Maggiore- 
Generale  Medico,  or  surgeon-general.  He  has  on  his  staff  eight 
medical  and  four  pharmacist  officers.  The  Chief  Pharmacist  of  the 
Army  is  responsible  to  the  director  for  the  care  of  all  drugs,  dress- 
ings, medical  and  surgical  appliances  in  the  Army  area.  He  carries 
out,  on  behalf  of  his  chief,  inspections  of  military  pharmacies,  chem- 
ical and  scientific  laboratories  and  advanced  depots  of  medical  stores. 
Care  of  Medical  and  Surgical  Stores. — As  in  the  French  and 
other  Continental  armies,  the  care  of  medical  and  surgical  stores  is 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  pharmacists.  In  our  Army  the  care  of  ad- 
vanced and  base  depots  of  medical  stores  has  been  in  the  hands  of 
Royal  Army  Medical  Corps  quartermasters  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  the  European  War.  In  the  South  African  and  all  previous 
wars,  these  depots  have  been  commanded  and  administered  by  med- 
ical officers. 
