an officer, Capt.
Akutin, and he once expressed great pleasure in the fact that they
exchanged salutes with him cordially.

XXXII

FELCHERS, PRIESTS AND ICONS

Felcher Is Student Of Medicine--Or Pill Passer Of Army Experience
--Sanitation And Ventilation--Priests Strange Looking To Soldiers
--Duties And Responsibilities--Effect Of Bolshevism On Peasant's
Religious Devotions--The Icons--Interesting Stories--Doughboys Buried
By Russian Priests--Respect For Russian Religion.

During the fall of 1918 when the influenza epidemic was wreaking such
great havoc among the soldiers and natives in the Archangel Province,
our medical corps as heretofore explained were put to almost superhuman
efforts in combating the spread of this terrible disease. There were
very few native doctors in the region, and it was, therefore, well nigh
impossible to enlist outside aid. In some of the villages we received
word that there were men called felchers who could possibly be of some
assistance. We were at once curious to ascertain just what kind of
persons these individuals were and upon investigation found that the
Russian Company located in our sector had a young officer who was also a
felcher and who was giving certain medical attention to his troops. We
immediately sent for him and in answer to our inquiries he explained as
nearly as possible just what a felcher was.

It seems that in Russia, outside the large cities and communities, there
is a great scarcity of regularly licensed medical practitioners, many of
these latter upon graduation enter the army where the pay is fairly good
and the work comparatively easy, the rest of them enter the cities
where, of course, practice is larger and the remuneration much better
than would be possible in a small community. These facts developed in
the smaller communities the use of certain second-rate students of
medicine or anyone having a smattering of medical knowledge, called
felchers.

In many cases the felcher is an old soldier who has traveled around the
world a bit; and from his association in the army hospitals with doctors
and students has picked up the technique of dressing wounds, setting
broken bones and administering physic. Very often they are, of course,
unable to properly diagnose the ailments or conditions of their
patients. They, however, are shrewd enough to follow out the customary
army method of treating patients and regardless of the disease promptly
administer vile do