MATERIA MEDICA

The last time the United States tried conscription, we had plenty of double with epidemics in the camps. Ever since then, Army doctors and a few in private medical schools have been studying how to avoid them. The late Dr. Hans Zinsscr, a well-known Harvard bacteriologist, offered one solution. He said that the cause of the trouble lay in bringing too many men together from all parts of the country too quickly. Trying to harden them up too fast somehow set loose a lot of respiratory germs that some of them were carrying, and soon the camp would be afflicted with a flare-up of infectious diseases. His remedy was obvious: mobilize the men gradually, under strict medical supervision.

It is rumored that a few Harvard men had a lot to do with the passage of the Burke-Wadsworth Bill. Now that they have succeeded in their aims, the advice of another Harvard man ought to be considered in administering it.