J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-71-05-10 on 1 November 1938. Downloaded from 356 (torreaponbence. MECHANIZATION AS IT A:F:FECTS r:I.'HE MEDICAL SERVICES. TO THIll EDITOR OF THE" JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS." SIR,-With reference to the reply to my article by Major :F. W. Richardson, in the July number of the Journal. Major Richardson states: "The disappearance of the.horsed ambulance wagon abolishes the need for a stage at which wounded are transhipped from horse-drawn to mechanical vehicles." The context leads one to the 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. idea that this stage is the A.D.S. I consider this idea to be wrong. The organization forthe evacuation and treatment of wounded is based on an "object," viz., to give the wounded the most efficient treatment possible. The two-dressing station organization was imposed on us by slow-moving transport, so slow that it w~s essential, in order to attain the " object," to have a place at which splints and dressings could be adjusted, where it could be assured that reactionary hffimorrhage had not started, and restoratives could be given, etc. As slow-moving transport has given way' to fast-moving transport, surely the necessity which determined the two-dressing station organization has ceased to exist. :Further, keeping the "object" in view, it does not follow that the A.D.S. would be done away with. ,The one dressing station, according to the situation, would be sited to best advantage, sometimes further up, sometimes ·further back. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ The prefix" Adv. " or " Main" should be done away with. As regards gas cases, we only decontaminate wounded. The effect of mustard gas will be seen more in back areas (near the dressing station), than amongst front line troops. It is highly probable that they will only be affected when the enemy are retreating, in which case the dressing station would be as far up as possible. It is quite possible that owing to a Division now being so spread out, the Divisional :Field Ambulances will not be able cope with casualties far back, say amongst the Supply Column, etc., and it may almost be expected on September 27, that the effect of mustard gas will be concentrated along routes and halting places behind the fighting troops. In this case an,organization providing an A.D.S. for a forward area, solely Qnaccount of mustard gas, would be out of place. J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-71-05-10 on 1 November 1938. Downloaded from Corresponden ce 357 It is obvious that a complete solution to the problem of mechanization and its effects on our Corps present many difficulties. As regards the one dressing station being unorthodox. fJ.'he 'answer is partially given by the reference to the 1st and 5th Armies; also, if nothing new was ever attempted, there would have been, for instance, no re-organization or mechanization of our Army. Tanglin, I am, etc., Singapore, R. G. ATKINS, August 28, 1938. Lieut.-Colonel, B.A .M.C. THE MEDICAL SRRVICES DURING THE SEVEN YEARS WAR. TO THE EDITOR OF THE" JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS." 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. DEAR SIR,-In reading an interesting article by Lieutenant-Colonel Kempthorne on the medical services during the Seven Years War, I have come across a somewhat inaccurate statement about Dr. Donald. Monro. In speaking of Donald Monro's "observations on the means of preserving the health of soldiers" Colonel Kempthorne says :- .. The author was the son of John Monro who had served as a . surgeon in the Army of William Ill, and later, when Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh, lent his help to the wounded after the battle of Preston Pans. His grandfather, Sir Alexander Monro, fought on the King's side at the battle of Worcester." John Monro was not the father of Donald but the grandfather. John Monro's only son, Alexander Monro primus was the person. who became the first Professor of Anatomy'in Edinburgh, and, as Colonel Kempthorne says, lent his help to the wounded after the battle of Preston Pans, and Donald Monro was his second son. Sir Alexander Monro, who fought http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ at the battle of Worcester, was not Donald's grandfather, but his great grandfather. University of Otago, I am, etc., Dunedin, N.Z. W. J. MULLIN, Beptember 27, 1938. Librarian, Otago Medical School . .. on September 27,.