In determining the system of administration and discipline for Ps. of W. interned in Switzerland, the Swiss authorities had no precedent to follow beyond the experience gained in 1871, when a French army under General Bourbaki, in seeking an asylum on Swiss territory, was disarmed and interned on crossing the frontier. The conditions under which the internment was effected during the Great War of 1914-1918 were, however, wholly different; for whereas in 1871 the internment was imposed on Switzerland as a neutral State, in accordance with the rulings of international law, in 1915 it was voluntarily offered by the Swiss Government, and was accepted by the belligerent States in accordance with the terms of a Convention to which Switzerland, France, England, and Germany had given their adherence. There was also a further and important difference, viz., whereas in 1871 the Swiss Government was called upon to exercise authority over an armed body of fit men, in 1916 they were given the guardianship of Ps. of W., composed exclusively of the sick and wounded. For the regulation of the system of internment, two alternatives presented themselves, both of which had their ardent partisans. In the one case, it was proposed that the interned Ps. of W. should be dealt with in the same way as any ordinary unit of the Swiss Army, i.e., they should be administered and controlled by the General Headquarter Staff at Berne; in the other, that they should be placed under the control of the Sanitary Service of the Army, a branch of that Service being specially created for that purpose. Those in favour of the former procedure pointed out that discipline would be difficult of maintenance, if left to the medical officer alone, and that the adoption of an entirely novel procedure, for which there was no precedent, would give rise to trouble; the argument adduced in favour of the latter method was, that as the Interned were either sick, wounded, or convalescent, they could only be dealt with satisfactorily by the Swiss Sanitary Service. After much deliberation, the Swiss Government declared itself in favour of the creation of a special branch of the Sanitary Service, to which should be delegated the administrative, medical, and disciplinary control of the Interned, and orders to give effect to this decision were issued. This special branch was made independent of the G.H.Q. Staff, and was placed under the ægis of the Political Department of the Government, with Colonel Hauser as Chief Medical Officer of the Army (Médecin d'Armée), in control.