The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-08-12

WAR AND SURGERY.
New Conditions Developed by the I'm
proyenaents of Recent Years.

proyenlents of Recent Years,
1t is quite likely that during the
progress of the present war there will
be entirely new experiences in the char
acter and treatment Of the wounds in
ficted in battle as compared with those
OF 30 years ago. Since that time the de-
structive machinery of the battlefield
has been brought to such degree of
| perfection in regard to distance of range,
accuracy Of aim and power of penetra-
ton that the percentage Of such as may
receive slight wounds, from which re-
covery may be possible, will be exceed
ingly small in proportion to such as are
destined to be killed outright. 1t will
be question Of wholesale slaughter, in
which the winner can show the greatest
amount of humiliation in the shortest
possible time. The mill that has the
best grinding power will be the first to
receive the prize. The game is to be
played with stakes in job lots. 1t is to
be wholesale business entirely, the
mere retail exhibitions of personal BRAY
cry, Individual tact or military genius
being virtually unnecessary for the de-
sired end. The best equipped machine
shop will turn out the most goods.
Hence it will be impossible to estimate
the amount of damage that may be done
or the number of lives that may be sac
rificed. The wounds be on large
scale and numerous in proportion,
Especially will this be the case on the
battleships under fire. Extensive lacera-
lions from exploding shells, submarine
mines and torpedoes and splinters Of
steel and wood will be the rule. The
wide areas of tissue involved and the
corresponding intensity of shock will
necessitate new rules for operative in
reference and new methods of surgical
technique. Comparatively speaking,
amputation will be more necessary than
resection.
When once the danger of operation
| itself is past, aseptic surgery will
abundantly demonstrate its opportuni-
ties What is lost in one direction will
be gained i'll another. Hospital gan
creme, the dreadful bane of wound treat
ment i'll our late war, will be virtually
impossible. and suppurating stumps
will no longer propagate their poison
GUS influences. Intestinal surgery has
also elevated itself almost to science,
and death on the field, virtually inevita-
BILE before, is now most effectually
thwarted by the modern and ingenious
ly skillful methods Of the present day.
Thus, while the war may inflict large,
and more dangerous wounds than ever
before, there is a comfort in contem-
plating the compensatory balance OF
odds i'll favor of the corresponding ad-
vances in operative methods and the i'm
proved technique Of wound treatment.
The experiences along the new lines
of surgical procedure will be of the
greatest interest to the profession in
demonstrating on large scale the value
of those general principles upon which
the recent surgical advances have been
based. Every pains will be taken tc
give all available information on these
points to the readers of The Medical
Record. Aside from arrangements fol
special correspondence from the field,
we are particularly gratifed to state
that representative of this journal,
himself one of the operating surgeons
on the Solace, the new hospital ambu.
lance ship. will furnish our readers
with such surgical data as may be in
teresting, suggestive or instructive
Medical Record.