The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-12
Correspondence The St. Paul Globe.

Correspondence The st. Paul Globe.
NEW YORK, June 9.-If the science
OF killing has made RAPID strides since
the last war in which this country took
Fart, the sc.ence Of life-saving has ad-
vanced equally fast There will be a
little possibility of a repetition of the
narrowing stories of suffering endured
by the wounded left sometimes for
days on the field of battle. Every
United States soldier who goes to the
front in the war with Spain will carry
in his knapsack a package of antiseptic
dressing, in the use of which he Will
have been thoroughly trained, SO thai
Should a comrade be hit he can dress
the wound in a wo kman!iHe mann er,
and so save him from bleeding to death
before the surgeon ar-ives.
This is one instance Of the advance
of science in tie cause Of the SO d. ec.
Another is in the emb yonic shape Just
at present, but it promises to bee Jme
of practical use before land hostilities
actually begin. 1t is none other than
our cd familiar friend the X-Iay, lest
sight Of Temporarily durii g the st ri I g
times that We have fallen upon. 1t
comes up aga.n in conencti3n with the
scientific arrangements for extracting
bullets in field hospitals. The f-w ex
with the aid Of the X-ray have shown
the gre at use to which the mysterious
agency can be put IN COME ction with
the hospital se1v-ce.
One of the surgeons who has been
conducting series f eXpe- linen wi h
a View to testing the usefulness of the
X-ray in warfare Is DR.. l. L. G. Gillian
ders. He says Of his KIP m hts: "Ona
pa.ieEt, aged fourier, fwhi st clcani lS
a pistol, accidentally shot himself, the
bullet lodging in the PAIN o. his right
hand. The wounded hand had been
subjected to the ROentgen rays, the
skiagraph revealing the bullet lying in
the second interosseous space close to
the proximal ends OF the first and sec
ond netacarpal bones.
Wien l examir ed the phi mt I f und
the wound of entrance situated one
half inch from the distal end of the
third metacarpal bore on the pamar
surfa ce. The patient complained that
he was losing the power Of h S fingers.
The following day I operated, Dr..
Upper acting as chloroformist. I made
free incision in the palm, carefully
exploded the first, second and third in
terossecus spaces, but with negative
result. Then 1 controlled the chloro-
form, and DR.. Upper operated. He
also met with nOn-success. The oper-
alton was postponed, and next day the
patient was taken to a photographic
laboratory. I placed a strip of lead
foil along the wound Another ska
graph was taken, which indicated the
comparative relationship of my incis-
ion to the bullet, .;.....s.
Il then resolved to operate on the
hand while the rays were actually pas
sing through the tissues, and subSti-
tuted the fuorescent screen for the
sensitive plate. The strip of lead. foil
was removed, DR.. Upper put the pa
tient under chloroform and the room
was darkened. On introducing the bal
let forcepS into the wound a percepti-
BILE shadow of the instrument was
thrown upon the screen, and my own
hand appeared in skeleton outline. Re
E:oval of the piece of lead was a ques-
ton of very few minutes. I was so
struck by the success and rapidity of
the operation that I venture to make
the following suggestions with regard
to the removal of foreign bodies:
First, that the direct use of the
screen is preferable in many cases to
operating by the aid of a fixed ska
graph, provided that the foreign body
is lodged in the less dense tissues.
Second, that it is advisable to place
over the skin a piece of metallic foil,
or other opaque substance, indicating
the line of proposed incision before OPP
Grating"
The attention of military surgeons
has been attracted to the subject of the
N-ray as part OF the field hospital
equipment, and it is a certainty that
this method of locating bullets will be
extensively used when the real fight
ing begins between this country and
Spain. The apparatus is not too COM
plicated or cumbersome for quick
transmission, and there will be no par
ticular difficulty in attaching it to the
army hospital equipment It's value is
not problematical. Science has dis
covered few things that are more help
full to heroes bullet wounded in battle
than will be the X-ray, by which the
bullet will be located for quick extrac-
ton.