The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-09
DEARTH OF MEDICAL MEN, DUE TO CALLS OF WAR, WILL LAST
 LONG AFTER PEACE, IS BELIEF
Shortage of Students As Well As Death Toll of Volunteers At the Battle Lines DepleteS the Profession.

London, Sept 9-The dearth of medical men in the United Kingdom is not only serious at present on ac- count of the war, but it will continue for years afterward, in the opinion of The Lancet, the organ of the Brit sh medical profession.
 In it's issue of August 28 The Lam set said:
 seThat our medical schools will go very short of students is certain, and this will mean a dangerously small list of medical practitioners to minis ter to the needs of the country in the near future. The position is inevita- ble. The spirit which will lead young men of the military age and the ed ucated class to join the army must have this effect, but it is the duty of the medical profession to face the difficulty and to make the best of it.
 ''The great work which the medi- cal contingent with the navy and army has accomplished in the pres ent war will acte later as a stimulus to enthusiasm for our calling, and the shortage which must occur in our ranks for the three or four years fol fol lowing-say, 1917, will speedily rem edy itself, when our social world re- sunes, as far as altered circumstances will permit, the scheme which we had, with considerable lack of pro vision, come to regard as the normal one.
 yThe war found the numbers of the medical profession in this coun- try alr eady disquietingly low, and with indications of further sagging in those numbers. The figures indi- cate a serious shortage of medical men for the years following the war. Not only has a large number of young men who otherwise would be begin ming or pursuing their medical stud ies been absorbed, but, unfortunately, a serious toll was taken last autumn of those who, being already nearly qualified, would have been able to practice their profession as qualified men in a few months
 ssThe future will see an increased demand for medical men, and their prospects Of success will be so great that the aspirants will assured1y be numerous. And there will be an inn provements in the conditions which have prevailed in the past, not only because the professi on of medicine will share in sociological progress, but because the record of the. work of medicine throughout the war has been such that it must lead to a closer relationship between the med icaI profession and the public.
 'sThe British public are taking a more intelligent interest in these things, and the energy with which lay bodies are working in co-operation with tf1es medi cal profession in car- rying out various schemes for the we'll being of the people may be taken as an indication that the health of the nation will be a first consideration of the teffuture-which means that there will be a great demand for medical men at the close of the war. And this is the essential message to the students now in the schools. They are already wanted as qualified men,. and in the near future they will be wanted even more urgently. It is a patriotic duty, imposed upon them by sth e. conditions of the world that they. should spare no effort to pass all their tests in the shortest legal time, while by doing so they will reap the double reward of good citizenship and worldly success.