the first line surgical posts. We know what the demands are for surgical skill in laparotomy. We know what installation of equipment it requires, what mobilization of personnel, how much time it takes. We know that in spite of so many precautions, the results are sometimes postponed to a very dubious future.

"So, in spite of everything, it does not seem possible that they can be denied that which still remains of hope. It is not possible that this abdominally wounded man, this fine big, wounded fellow, with his tragically solemn face, who asks us questions with his great eyes and seems to implore our aid-it is not possible that this wounded can ever be abandoned.

"Whatever war may be, whatever may be the accumulated means of destruction, it is our whole task that we must defend—it is our whole duty that must be completely accomplished. It is in forging our souls of a purer metal, in forging our methods of help. and in knowing how to use them at their maximum of flexibility that we shall continue to fulfil our duty.

"It is for this great task and duty of charity that you have been meeting together for more than fifteen years, my dear comrades of all the armies of the world, and it is to this good work that I have the great honor of bringing all the warmth of my heart."

Rouvillois (France)

On behalf of the foreign delegates, Inspector General Rouvillois of the French Army Medical Service expressed the admiration and respect of all the world for the late King Albert of the Belgians and regard for the entire Royal Family.

***

The meetings of the Congress were held in one of the large halls on the exposition grounds.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE

PERMANENT COMMITTEE

President: Lieutenant General Derache (Belgium; absent because of illness).

Secretary: Colonel Jules Voncken (Belgium).

Members:

General Tourinho (Brazil; absent);

Colonel F. Martos (Spain);

Captain William Seaman Bainbridge (United States of America);
General A. Schickelé (France);

Colonel W. Benson (Great Britain; in the absence of Major
A. D. Stirling);

Pharmacist Colonel Jules Thomann (Switzerland);

Major G. R. Markoe (Mexico; in the absence of General Castillo
Nájera);

Czechoslovakia and Monaco-temporary members, 1935-37.
Honorary Presidents:

*General Wibin (Belgium);

General Della Valle (Italy);

General Vincent (France);

General Rouppert (Poland);

General Sir Matthew Fell (Great Britain);

General Diehl (Netherlands);

General Granda (Spain).

* Deceased.

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MEETINGS OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE

Meetings of the Permanent Committee were held before, during, and immediately following the Congress sessions. Its first unhappy duty was to send a telegram of sympathy to General Derache, whose serious illness, which culminated in his death soon after the Congress, prevented him from being present.

Colonel Voncken, Secretary General, reviewed the work of the Committee since the Madrid Congress in 1933 and gave an outline of its manifold duties. It organizes the Congresses, publishes the International Bulletin of Military Medicine, develops relationships with interested organizations, has organized a Medico-Legal Commission, and has under its International Office of Medico-Military Documentation the duties of sending speakers abroad, replying to international inquiries, arranging conference sessions, and keeping up to date a bibliographic index.

Many international inquiries have been received, such as those with regard to organization and functioning of the pharmaceutical services in the army; gastroduodenal ulcer in the army; and pharmaceutical kits.

Interest in the International Office is shown by the fact that in the year 1934-35, 256 requests for information with reference to it were received from 20 countries.

The Permanent Committee acts as a liaison by official representation between the International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy and the Commission for the Standardization of Sanitary Material.

The Secretary General of the Permanent Committee attended the Fifteenth International Conference of the Red Cross at Tokyo.

Resolutions were passed by the Red Cross that this organization collaborate directly with the Permanent Committee, particularly with regard to the work of the Red Cross on the seas, and that the Red Cross collaborate with the Permanent International Commission for the Standardization of Sanitary Material, concerning first-aid material. The Conference of the Red Cross also lauded the Pact of Monaco, particularly with relation to the creation of zones or cities where the civilian population, as well as the war-wounded or sick, would be assured of protection. It expressed the wish that the International Red Cross stimulate efforts toward the protection of the classes indicated.

The Brazilian member of the Permanent Committee, General Tourinho, Director of the Brazilian Army Medical Service, was unanimously selected to represent the Committee at the Third Pan American Conference of the Red Cross at Rio de Janeiro.

The Secretary General was requested to make a report on the proposal by the member of the Permanent Committee from the United States of America for the creation of an International Order of Mercy to honor exceptional services in the medico-military field.

Because of internal conditions the Rumanian Government was compelled to recall its invitation for the present Congress to meet in Bucharest. However, the invitation was renewed for 1937 and the Ninth Congress will convene in Bucharest in May of that year.

The following subjects were selected for study at the Ninth International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy:

I. Organization and functioning of the medical service in combined military and naval operations. (Reporting countriesGreat Britain and United States of America.)

II. Transportation, hospitalization, and treatment of the gassed-wounded. (Reporting countries-U. S. S. R., Yugo

slavia, and Germany.)

III. Organization and functioning of the surgical services in motorized troops. (Reporting countries-Rumania and Spain.)

IV. Use of colorimetric analytical methods in military medical laboratories. (Reporting countries-Japan and Switzerland.)

V. The edentulous soldier-definition-treatment-prosthesis. Military employment in peace and in war. (Reporting countries-Greece and Netherlands.)

VI. Comparative study of the commissariat and feeding of the sick and wounded in peace and in war. (Reporting countries-Turkey and France.)

The following subjects are reported herein:

I. Principles of organization and functioning of medical services in mountain warfare.

II. Determination of fitness for the different specialties in armies, navies, and air forces.

III. The post-traumatic abdomen.

IV. A study of the standardization of methods of analysis of foodstuffs for military use.

V. Bucco-dental service at the front.

VI. Comparative study of the functions of the administrative medical services of armies, navies, and air forces.

SUBJECTS REPORTED UPON OFFICIALLY

I. PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONING OF MEDICAL SERVICES IN MOUNTAIN WARFARE

Bassi (Italy)

The "Principles of Organization and Functioning of Medical Services in Mountain Warfare" was taken up by Lieutenant Colonel Giuseppe Bassi of Italy. From the descent of Hannibal upon Italy in 218 B.C. until Napoleon's invasion over the Great St. Bernard Pass in 1800, the Alps have never been the theater of great battles. It was always denied that they could be. The very thought of it inspired a sort of terror in the troops. In consequence, preparation for mountain warfare had been almost entirely neglected. But the World War brought many radical changes of method, created by developing experience. The French general, Dosse, estimated that two thirds of the military operations were conducted in mountain regions or in very difficult terrain. It is a proportion that is likely to increase in future wars. This remarkable change has been due, partly, to the development of means of transportation, guaranteeing the continual enormous supplies of needed materials and foodstuffs, as well as to the modern interest in mountain climbing and winter sports, which has become general. The development of vast systems of military roads and of complicated and powerful modern equipment of offense and defense was made possible during the World War in Italy by the slow movement of the warfare in general, which at times and for prolonged periods assumed a stationary character. So it was found in the end that, instead of being able to support only small groups of combatants in the mountains, whole armies could be maintained with increasing ease at higher and higher altitudes, whatever the weather, whatever the season, whatever the nature of the terrain.

The study of medical service in mountain warfare concerns, in different degrees, not only countries containing mountainous regions that are likely to be involved in military operations, or a country like Italy which is wholly bounded by mountain systems throughout its whole land-contact with other nations, but all other countries, since any of them may be required to send troops to fight in mountain sectors beside their allies.

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