Evening star., 1898-07-26

service for the wounded being here at
time when assistance was greatly needed.
The idea of having volunteer nurses here
was not received very kindly by a good
many surgeons at first, there being a fear
that they might be more ornamental than
useful, and not take kindly to discipline
Experience has ddspelled all such fear, and
the surgeons to whose wards these volun-
teers are assigned say they have never seen
trained nurses more punctual and exact in
caring for the sick, and that they have
as full realization of the respect that
should be paid to an "order'' any officer
of the navy. From a. m. until pm. they
are on duty" Temperatures of the fever
patients are to be taken at stated intervals
medicines to be administered and wounds
to be dressed. Since the 18th there have
not been many idle moments for the nurses.
Buried With Military HOnors.
There have been very few deaths here
Today a soldier who died of typhoid fever
was buried at the cemetery of the soldiers
home at Hampton. The funeral car was
drawn up before the main hospital building
and couple score of wounded soldiers,
supported by crutches or canes, or sitting
on the row of antiquated gun carriages in
front of the camp. were silent watchers
as their dead comrade was carried out. A
military escort and band were provided and
accompanied the remains to the grave.
where taps" were sounded over the body
of the soldier.
hospital here today for the first time since
the soldiers wounded in Cuba arrived.
L am much pleased with the whole ar
rangement here" he said to The Star cor
respondent. DR.. De Witt is a most effi-
cent medical officer, and the preparation
nc has made Is entirely satisfactory The
wounded men are doing well and all seem
to be happy. They are receiving every
care that Is possible
General Sternberg entered the army as
an assistant surgeon in 1881 and served in
the medical department throughout the
civil war. Comparing the difference in the
treatment then given the wounded and
that now used. and satd
Then We expected all gunshot wounds
to become inflamed and to suppurate The
treatment adopted then to reduce fnfiam-
nation was by the application of COM
presses dipped In cold water. In those
days we did not know that water con-
tanned germs that would produce suppura-
tion In wounds.
Now. under the aseptic treatment, we
do not allow drop of water to come near
wound unless it has been thoroughIy
sterflized, and we avoid touching the
wound with fingers or probes by which 1t
might become infected with the germs of
suppuration. The first aid packages.
which every soldier carries, contain ster'
flized congresses and bandages and men
are instructed to put these on their wounds
at once.''
If the 400 men now at the hospital here
nad received the same wounds with the
Old Springfield rifle bullets and had been
treated under the methods in vogue during
the civil war what proportion of deaths
would have occurred among them?" Gem
eral Sternberg was asked.
Under those circumstances 40 per cent
OF the wounds would have been fatal" he
replied. AS it is. not single death oc-
CURED from gunshot wound while the
men were on transports, and from such
wounds only one death has occurred since
the men have been in the hospital here,
ana that was the result of a severed ar
terry, which caused the mans death nv
hemorrhage. Men now recover from their
wounds IN ten days or two weeks. whereas
under the treatment given during the civil
wa. IN the case of suppurated wounds
ana the compound fractures that are nov,
getIng well would then have called far
amputations in many cases." CE