In the evening we were given a banquet by the Chamber of Commerce. The invitation received from the Lyons Chamber, translated, is as follows: Lyon, Chamber of Commerce. The Lyons Chamber of Commerce beg you to be so kind as to accept a private invitation at dinner which it will give to the members of the Commission of the United States on Thursday, September 21st, 7 o'clock P. M. at Berrier and Millet, 31 Bellecour Square. Business dress. R.S.V.P. We were welcomed in English by the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and discussed the following menu: Supreme of Lobster A l'amiral Tenderloin a la bearnaise Artichoke Hearts Chantilly style Roast Truffled Bresse Chicken Scotch Salad Havana Ice Desert Wines Fleurie (Beaujolais) in Decanter Pouilly (Maconnais) in Decanter White Hermitage 1904 Chateau Vaudieu 1904 Saint-Peray frappe On my right was General d'Armade, one of the noted generals of the French army, who had seen service all through the present war. On my left was M. Farrand. My talk with General d'Armade was most interesting. He said the best soldiers of both the French and the German armies were gone; that they had been destroyed in the early part of the war and that the soldiers now fighting were civilians who had been trained for two years. He declared that a French soldier was always a French soldier. He had no doubt of the ultimate victory of the Allies. In addition to General d'Armade's experience in the present war, he had been in Morocco and the Sudan with important commands. On Friday, the day following, we were entertained by the directors of the Lyons Fair. On my left was Charles Cabaud, Russian Consul General. On my right sat Dr. Jules Courmont, who in time of peace is Professor of the faculty of medicine and physician to the hospitals of Lyons, but who now, in time of war, is in the War Department, has the rank of general, and is charged with the hygiene of the army. We found him a very competent and interesting gentleman. He accompanied us in the private car which the railroad furnished us, and went south with us some distance to where there is a large government garrison, and where he had an inspection to make. During the trip on the train Dr. Courmont told us many interesting things about the hygiene of the army. He said that the warfare of today is very different from the warfare of former times in respect to the hygiene; that contrary to what was commonly supposed, the hygiene of the trenches is excellent; that the soldiers are in better condition, most of them, than they are in time of peace. They are more regularly and better fed, and are strong, well nourished and hearty. The experience has been the regeneration of very many of them physically. This is due, he says, to the fact that they have their food served to them regularly and abundantly; whereas in former wars it was a matter of the greatest difficulty for troops to be provisioned.