The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-29
MODERN WAR AND SURGERY.
New Conditions Developed by the I'm.
prOvements of Recent Years.
Medical Record.


1t is quite likely that during the progress
of the present war there will be entireIy
new experiences In the character and trasf
ment of the wounds inflicted ir battle as
compared with those of thirty years arn
Since that time the destructive machinerv
of the battlefield has been brought to sucb
degree of perfection in regard to distance
of range, accuracy of aim and power M
penetration that the percentage of such az
may receive slight wounds from which re-
eovery may be possible, will be exceedingly
small In proportion TO such as are destined
to be killed outright. 1t will be a question
of wholesale slaughter, in which the winner
can show the greatest amount of annihila-
ton in the shortest possible time The mill
that has the best grinding power will be the
first to receive the prize. The game is 10
be played with stakes in job lots. 1t is to
be a wholesale business entirely the mere
retail exhibitions of personal bravery indj-
vidual tact or military genius being virtu-
ally unnecessary for the desired end. The
best equipped machine shop will turn out
the most goods. Hence it will be impossible
to estimate the amount of damage that NAV
be done or the number of lives that may
be sacrificed. The wounds will be on a
large scale and numerous in proportion
Especially will this be the case on the bat
tie ships under fire; Extensive decorations
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 on
erative interference and new methods of
surgical technique. Comparatively speak
Ing, aInputaIlon VIII De more necessary than
resection.
When once the danger of operation itself
is past, aseptic surgery will abundantlv
demonstrate it's opportunities. What is lost
in one direction will be gained in another
Hospital gangrene, the dreadful bane Of
wound treatment in our late war will be
virtually impossible, and suppurating
stumps will no longer propagate their poi
sonous influences. Intestinal surgery has
also elevated itself almost to a science and
death on the field, virtually inevitable be-
fore, is now most effeetually thwarted by
the modern and ingeniously skillful methods
of the present day. Thus. while the war
may infiict larger and more dangerous
wounds than ever before there is a comfort
in contemplating the compensatory balance
of odds in favor of the corresponding adj
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 a large scale the value of those general
principles upon which the recent surgical
advances have been based. Every pains will
be taken to give all available information
on these points to the readers of the Med
ical Record. Aside from arrangements for
special correspondence from the field we
are particularly gratified to state that rep
resentative of this journal, himself one Of
the operating surgeons on the SolaCe. the
new hospital ambulance ship, will furnish
our readers with such surgical data as may
be interesting, suggestive or instructive