Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-08-05
The x.Ray in Army Surgery.

Inc wonderful Arrays, whose ulScoV-
cry startled the scientific world only
a few months ago, have proved OF
great service to humanity in this war
with Spain. BY their assistance many
wounded men, whose cases would have
been hopeless ten years ago, have been
successfully treated, and are now re-
covering. The hospital ship Relief,
which has just arrived in New York
| City with $50 wounded soldiers from
Santiago. is equipped with very fine
X-ray apparatus, and it has been used
very many times to great advantage.
The medical staff of the Relief say
that the X-ray is invaluable, and that.
| except for minor wounds, it has done
away with the probe, thereby render
ing the work of the surgeons more ac-
curate. thorough and rapid. DR.. Gray,
a government expert who accompanies
the Relief as an operator Of the X-ray
apparatus. regards it as absolutely in
dispensable, and it is certain that the
use of the X-rays in army surgery will
| become more general and that all of
the army hospitals. on land as we'll as
anoat. will soon be equipped.
Owing to the very high velocity of
the bullets fired from modern arms.
| and their great penetration. it is well
| ,t.rI, "a ,,I no.
body of the wounded man. TO probe
| for modern bullet would do more
| damage than to leave it alone. and it is
| not always possible to probe, so the
| discovery of the N-ray came just in
time to do Il great work for humanity
in this war. one of the wounded men
brought North on the Relief was Louis
Carlisle of the Seventy first New York
He was shot in the shoulder with a
Mauser bullet. and that the little piece
of lead would never have been found
with a probe was made evident when
an N-ray photograph of the man dis
closed the bullet lodged in the spine in
the lumbar region. After striking the
shoulder the bah glanced downward,
and was found two feet below the
point where it entered She body. DIR.
Gray says that without the X-ray The
bah would never have been found. and
that the man would have either died
or else have been paralyzed for the
rest of his life. With the N-ray the
ball was found in very short time.
the point for making the incision was
accurately known, and the bullet was
removed within a few minutes after
the operation had been commenced
Carlisle will recover and will expert
ence no permanent injury.
DIR. Gray tells of many other interest
ing cases. George Parker of Company
r, 24th Infantry. was picked up with
his right leg apparently smashed to
pieces The surgeons advised amputa-
ton at once in the field hospital. but
DR. Gray put the leg before a Crooke's
| tube and looking at il through fuorn-
| scope discovered two Mauser bullets
imbedded in the leg. and the tibia al
most split in two by one of them The
bullets We're extracted, the wound is
| healing rapidly, the N-ray shows that
the bone is knitting, and, thanks to the
wonderful invention Parker will have A
good right leg instead of a wooden one
DR.. Gray took photographs of these
and number of other cases, and he is
now on his way to Washington to make
his report
| In the Civil War many veteran re-
ceved a bullet in his body, which tne
surgeons Were unable to find by prob
ing. and they carry the lead in their
| bodies to this day. That will not he
| the case with the veterans of the
| Spanish war. bullet which hit one
man in the hand, was found in his
knee cap, bullet which struck one
man in the breast was found in the
calf of his leg, and scores of other cases
| Just as peculiar We're noted by the
surgeons 1t hardly seems probable or
possible that bullet striking a man in
the hand could run up his arm. strike
| the shoulder, and CHANGING downward
| finally find a resting place in the knee.
but the N-ray photographs of the case
show it to he a fact. If this man had
received such wound ten years ago he
| would have had to carry the bah in his
leg, hut with the N-ray it was located
and cut out in the short time of ten
| minutes.
| Ihere is 4 patriotic competition be-
tween corporations and customers as
to which shall show the greater self