Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-06-05
MODERN SEA FIGHTS.
Casualties Are Few and Mortality
 Small.
Up-to-Dnte Surgery Saves Most of the Wounded Sailors and Marines-Loss nt Wei
 Hni-Wef.
ICopyright, 1898.


 Moscow conference by MT. s. Suzuki, fleet surgeon in the imperial Japanese navy, contains a great deal of interest ing information about Wei-hai-wei which now becomes topical. When Weirhai-wei was taken in February, 1895, 12 ships of the attacking fleet. which consisted of 25 large vessels be- sides 15 torpedo boats, were struck by 2S projectiles, but the resulting loss was not very great, only 20 of the Japanese having been killed and 46 wounded. The percentage of casualties in each grade was as follows: Officers, 10.0; noncommissioned officers, 10; en- gineers and stokers, o.6; bluejackets, 1.2; neneombatants, 0.6. During the Yalu engagement 25 missiles of various kinds reached the Japanese ships, the percentage of killed and wounded in this case being officers, IS; noneom- missioned officers, S.7; engineers and stokers, 2.6; blueiackets, o.4; noncom- batants, 9.8. At the beginning of the fight single projectile, 30 centimeters in diameter, killed 50 men on board the Metsushima and wounded 70 more. On board the Hiyei a shot of similar dimen- sions killed 14 men and wounded 27, without reckoning ten more who were injured by splinters. On board the Itsullushima eight men were killed and three wounded by projectile of 21 centimeters; five stokers were severely wounded by q 15-centimeter shell which penetrated the starboard coal bunker three feet above water line; and a smaller shell, only five centimeters in diameter, suffieed to place ten sailors hors de combat. four of them with mortal wounds. On board the Akitsus- hima five men were killed and nine wounded by 21-centimeter proieetile; and on the Fusco ten men were disabled by the fragments of shattered chim- ney stack The Sailyo was more fortu- nate than the above-m mentioned vessels, for although her hull was penetrated several times by the largest sized mis- siles she nevertheless suffered compara- lively little damage, as none of them ex- ploded. The torpedo boats seem to have gone through both engagements without injury from the enemy with the exception of No. 9. which was hit no fewer than B times ats5Wei-hai-wei on February 5. Most of the shots were marless, but one shell exploded. in her boiler and caused the death of eight men by scalding. The Japanese sur geons one and all treated their wounded antiseptically in the most enlightened fashion and with the shapplest results. One man, died from ergsipelas, but this was the only preyentable complication which occurred. They also praeticed the most strict conservatism in their operations, amputations being per formed solely as a last resource in cases where the larger blood vessels were inn plicated or where articulations were en- tirely disorganized, In many instances joints that had been penetrated were preserved at the expense of more or less complete ankylosis; 21 per cent. of the total injuries were situated on the head and the next place the parts af- fected were the upper and lower ex- tremiies.-, Then in their order came wounds of the abdomen, the chest, the back, and finally the neck. Several cases of ruptured tympanum were due 10 the heavy ordnance.