union medical colleges already exist, but these are all underdeveloped, and do not measure up to the highest requirements of modern medical educational standards, either in plant, equipment, staff or endowment. The effort now is to slightly reduce the number of these teaching institutions and to strengthen the remainder by further unions.

One of these union medical colleges is in West China, in the City of Chengtu, the provincial capital of Szechwan, the largest and most populous of all the provinces of China, with a population of 60,000,000. With the two other provinces of West China and also Thibet included, the constituency served by this institution is about 100,000,000. Chengtu is one of the several large cities in China officially recognized by the China Medical Missionary Association as a most strategic centre for the development of medical education in China.

Militia and Naval Medical
Services and Ambulance

ANOTHER "V.C." TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

CAPT. BELLENDEN S. S. HUTCHESON, who has been awarded the Victoria Cross,* is medical officer of the 75th (Toronto) Battalion, with which he has been at the front during a year and a half of heavy fighting. Capt. Hutcheson has been highly spoken of by Col. C. C. Harbottle, D.S.O., of the 75th, in letters to friends here, and by Col. J. S. D. Thompson, who was temporarily in command of the unit while Col. Harbottle was in the casualty list, and who is now in Ottawa.

Capt. Hutcheson is an American, born at Mount Carmel, Illinois, and came to Toronto in December, 1915, to enlist in the American Legion, with which he went to England. A vacancy occurring he was sent to the front as medical officer of the 75th, in which capacity he has long been doing splendid work, and has now been awarded the Victoria Cross.

CAPTAIN Lewis w. KERGAN RETURNS AFTER THREE YEARS' SERVICE IN MESOPOTAMIA

AFTER three years' service in Mesopotamia with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Capt. Lewis W. Kergan, returned to Toronto December 28th. He was greeted by his wife and little four-year-old daughter, who reside at 45 Albemarle Avenue. Capt. Kergan landed in Mesopotamia in 1916 on the day that General Townshend surrendered. The conditions that the

*The name of Capt. Hutcheson does not appear in our official list (page 29) as the award has not been as yet confirmed.

British-Indian troops had to contend with during 1916 he de scribes as very difficult.

"The whole army, including the British troops, had to subsist on Indian rations, consisting of peppers, rice and curry, transportation being utterly out of the question. Conditions are to-day entirely different," states the medical officer. "The rations are of the very best, and the medical service is well organized. The most up-to-date hospital ships have been plying up and down the River Tigris for the past year. During 1917 the suffering from heat stroke was intensive, the temperature running around 128 degrees in the shade. Over ten thousand deaths from heat stroke alone occurred among the troops during that summer, when they were following up the retreating Arabs and Germans."

Among the deaths from heat stroke was that of Sir V. Horsley, the noted English physician, who dropped suddenly one day on the pavement while attending a native bazaar. During the past year Capt. Kergan has been in charge of the advance hospital at Bagdad. There were no deaths from heat

stroke during the past year.

Capt. Kergan graduated from Toronto University in Medicine in 1911, and prior to enlistment was practising at Prince Rupert, B.C.

MAJOR ORR NOW D.S.O.

MAJOR HAROLD ORR, of Calgary, a graduate of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, in 1911, is among the New Year's list of those having been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Major Orr went overseas with the Canadian Army Medical Corps early in the war, and for a time did hospital duty in England. He then went to France and was attached to the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance. In March, 1918, he received his majority, and in April was appointed officer in charge of the 3rd Canadian Sanitary Section.

MAJOR L. C. PALMER DECORATED

INFORMATION recently reached Toronto that Maj. L. C. Palmer had been called to London to be decorated with the Military Cross by the King.

Maj. (Dr.) Palmer graduated in medicine at Toronto University in 1914 and enlisted in the C.A.M.C. in August of the same year, immediately after war was declared.

In France he was with the Canadians through all their heavy fighting for the past two years or more. He was pro moted to the rank of major, is the O.C. of his unit, has been awarded the Military Cross and recommended for the D.S.O. for conspicuous bravery. Maj. Palmer is the youngest son of Mr. George Palmer, Jameson Avenue, Toronto, and attended Parkdale Collegiate, where he was prominent in athletics before entering Toronto University.

The following is a copy of the description of the action for which the award was made:

"He was responsible for evacuating casualties occurring in units of this brigade. His work, under conditions of the most extreme difficulty, was beyond praise. His unceasing efforts and splendid personal example were marked factors in the successful clearing of casualties."

CAPT. (DR.) H. PHILLIPS, son of Mr. James Phillips, 618 Dovercourt Road. Toronto, is another of the original officers of the Sportsmen's Battalion to return. Capt. Phillips went overseas as medical officer with the Sportsmen, but when the unit was broken up he was left in England for a time. He went to the 10th Field Ambulance in France and served with that unit for over a year, being invalided back to England with the influenza and heart trouble. He was anxious to learn about the whereabouts of the other members of the Sportsmen's Battalion, two of whose well-known officers, Capt. Gordon Applegath and Lieut. Tom Greer, were killed in action. Capt. Phillips is a well-known graduate in medicine of the University of Toronto.

THE MILITARY CROSS has been awarded to Capt. James Evert Barry, of Niagara Falls, who, while tending the wounded of attacking companies, searched the field under full observation for men lying in exposed positions thus saving many lives. Originally enlisting with the University Base Hospital Unit (No. 4 Canadian General Hospital), he was promoted from private to corporal before his return to complete his fifth year at the School of Medicine. After graduation in 1916 he took out a commission in the C.A.M.C., crossing to England as M.O. of the 121st Battalion. On arrival in France, however, he transferred to the 2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion and was mentioned in despatches in June of this year and wounded the end of September.

MAJOR EDWARD S. JEFFREY, M.C., who is a graduate of the Medical Faculty, University of Toronto, 1914, arrived on December 27th at the home of his mother, Mrs. Andrew Jeffrey, 107 Carlton Street. He returned on the Grampian. Having enlisted as a staff sergeant in the C.A.M.C., he went overseas with the 1st Contingent and served in No. 2 Field Ambulance in France. He soon won his commission, receiving subsequent promotion to the rank of major. In September, 1916, he was wounded, but remained on duty, and the following July received the Military Cross for his work at Vimy Ridge. He was gazetted Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Corps last May.

HAVING served on H.M.S. Portia since joining the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve last May, Surgeon Probationer G. A. Jordan recently returned from overseas. He is a member of class '20, School of Medicine, and his home is at 63 Orchard View Boulevard, Toronto.

MAJOR CYRIL S. IMRIE, formerly of the medical staff, University of Toronto, has returned from overseas. Major Imrie went overseas in May, 1915, and was pathologist to No. 4 University Base Hospital and served also in Greece. Later he went to England and was attached to Orpington Hospital.