Red Bug___________________________3946

friendly ways and legendary associations.
The American robin is a namesake of this
bird, but very different, the nearest Ameri-
can ally of the English redbreast being the
bluebird.

Red Bug, one of various minute red harv-
est mites in the Southern United States that
burrow in the human skin, causing intense
irritation.

Red Cross Societies, national societies
established primarily for the aid of the sick
and wounded in time of war, recognized and
authorized by the military authorities and en-
joying certain privileges and immunities un-

_________Red Cross

gestion. The Committee of Five issued an in-
vitation to all the European governments as
well as to military, medical and philanthropic
notabilities to attend an international con-
ference to be held at Geneva on October 26,
1863. Thirty-six delegates, including repre-
sentatives of fourteen nations and six charit-
able and benevolent societies, responded to
the call; a proposed code of international en-
actment was discussed; and resolutions were
adopted. The convention was revised in 1906,
and its terms were extended to naval warfare
by the Hague Convention (1899). Although
the convention which made possible the Red

Red Cross in Action.
Registering Earthquake Refugees.

der the treaty known as the Geneva Conven-
tion. The Red Cross movement may be said
to have had its origin in the Battle of Sol-
ferino, in the Italian War of 1859. It was first
conceived by Henri Dunant of Geneva, who
witnessed the battle and who, in Un Souvenir
de Solferino, graphically described the suffer-
ings of the wounded soldiers. The Souvenir
of Solferino was read throughout the world
and this suggestion caught the attention of a
Genevese lawyer, Gustave Moynier. Monsieur
Moynier appointed a committee of five from
the Soctite d'Utilitd Publique to consider
plans and methods embodying Dunant's sug-

Cross movement was necessarily interna-
tional, the relief societies themselves are en-
tirely national and independent, each one
governing itself and making its own'laws,
and each central committee being charged
with the direction and responsibility of the
work in its own country. At Paris the League
of Red Cross Societies maintains a permanent
secretariat, which serves as an information
centre for the Red Cross societies of the
world, and from it publishes monthly a bul-
letin, The World's Health.

In 1869 Miss Clara Barton met in Geneva,
Switzerland, the founders of the Red Cross,