Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-04-06
French Surgery During the Siege.


So far as I can learn, the French sur.
geons in the early days of the siege,
when the conditions were favorable, were
earnest in the pursuit of conservative
surgery. One of the leading advocates
for this system has been DIR. Mosetig of
Vienna, attached to the international So
ciety's organization, and he had great
success, especially in the early days of
the siege. But as that siege progressed,
times changed. Circumstances became
unfavorable to the recovery of wounded
men under any surgical conditions;
wards became impregnated from long use
with hospital faint rations were bad !;
the men were physically "bad subjects"
True, it was possible still in some favored
lazarettes to pursue conservative surgery
There ventilation was good; patients
were comparatively sparse there was a
large allowance of cubic space of air /;
and the attendants spared no pains
to destroy any mysterious faint so noxious
after operations. A most favorable ex-
| ample of pattern lazarette is that kept
up by Mr.. Wallace, and supervised by
DR.. Cormac, where the sanitary conditions
were maintained in thorough efficiency
with hardly any regard to expense. But
all the receptacles for the wounded mani
testify could not share this good fortune.
There were crowded and long occupied
wards, generating pyemia, gangrene and
erysipelas; there were overworked order
| lies, and there was food of character in
evitably tending to the impoverishment
| and vitiation of the blood. These con-
ditions presented but a poor field for the
successful practice of conservative surgery.
| Let nae take two examples of conservative
surgery, operations for success in which
one of the most distinguished of our Brit
| ish surgeons, Sir William Ferguson, is
Justly celebrated. / refer to the excelsior
of the knee and elbow joints, and the
establishment of juncture between the
parts on either side of the excised joints
The value of such an operation suo-
cesefully consumated is immense; and
under favorable conditions, with skill in
the operator, a fair bodily condition is
the patient, and sedulous after.attention,
such an operation is successful in most
cases to q pitch of which our ancestors
did not dream. But when the ward is
malarious with these taints which poison
raw hesh-surfaces when the patient is
both low in habit at the time of the oper-
alton, and good nourishment is not after
ward obtainable and when the dressing
and attendance is not scrupulously care
| full, it is obvious that the circumstances
are altered. The surgeon has to consider
the practicability of diminishing the risk
| to the lowest possible minimum. When
he excuses joint and attempts a juncture,
he has two flesh surfaces patent to the
faint; the dressing is complicated, and
| the demand on the vital energy that slim
ulates the healing power is probably larg-
er. On the other hand, when he ampu-
| tates he exposes but one surface, and
| the other risks are smaller in every way.
| 1t was by argument based on these facts
that toward the end of the siege conserva-
tive surgery was gradually abandoned, ex-
cept in very favored localities. fear the
success of the operating surgeon has been
in no case encouraging. Ii is hardly in
the nature of things THAT it should have
been so. When scientific men give to the
| world the results of their surgical expert
ence of the siege of Paris, the communi-
cation cannot fail to be interesting and
| instructive. From all that | can learn,
matters would have been worse than they
| have been, had not all the victualliug,
medical and surgical arrangements been in
professional hands, instead of being left
| to the attendance. Probably in the his
tory of modern organizations there is no
greater instance of stupendous and abject
failure than the French attendance. II
it failed miserably in its obligations 30
the fghtiEg men, it is not to be thought
that its functions would have been more
efficiently performed in attending to the
sick and wounded. The war has snuffed
out the French attendance. II there are
any adaptations or copies of it in other
countries, let their administrators take
warning by the abiect collapse of their
pattern.