The first step from which resulted the concentration of these bureaus in Switzerland was taken in 1863. In that year a private committee, composed of different nationalities but animated by one noble impulse, assembled at Geneva to consider the practicability of making some better provision for the protection of the wounded in battle, the inadequacy of existing official means to meet the humane requirements of the sick and wounded soldiers in great wars having long been painfully apparent. It will always redound to the honor of Switzerland that upon its soil the first formal international conference was held with a view to the mitigation of some of the horrors of war. On that occasion the institution of national aid societies was organized, and a few Swiss gentlemen were formed into an international committee for the purpose of constituting, on their neutral territory, an intermediary for the aid of similar societies in all countries. This committee soon discovered that their movement was everywhere attracting the attention and winning the warm approbation of all humane people, and determined to place it upon a broader and firmer basis. They requested the Swiss Federal Council to propose to such other governments, as it deemed expedient, that a diplomatic conference should be held in Switzerland, to discuss and, if possible, give the undertaking international character and support. The Federal Council promptly acceded to the memorial of the committee, and the invitation, as desired, was officially extended in the name of the Swiss government. Many of the leading powers accepted the invitation, and accredited delegates to the conference, which assembled the following year in Geneva. This conference was brought to a successful conclusion by the signing of the memorable “Geneva Convention of August 20, 1864,” by the representatives of sixteen governments. Within four months it was ratified and formally acceded to by eight European states, and at the present date has been joined by a grand total of thirty-three states. This convention embraces a wide field of practical philanthropy, being designed to remove soldiers when sick or wounded from the category of combatants, affording them relief and protection without regard to nationality. This protection extends to all persons officially attached to hospitals or ambulances, and to all houses so long as they contain invalid soldiers. Inhabitants of a locality occupied by a belligerent army, and who are engaged in the care of the sick and wounded, are likewise included; provision is also to be made for the return of invalid soldiers to their respective homes. “While the gun-carriage bears its death-dealing burden across the battle-field, in the ruts which rushing artillery wheels have torn up follow quickly the ambulance wagons of this Christian brotherhood, bringing hope and succor to the wounded.” The insignia of hospital and ambulance