Evening journal., 1898-08-04
FATALITY OF BATTLEFIELD WOUNDS

GENERATION REDUCES IT by |
9nAT.F.
In the civil war the proportion OF
Union soldiers who died OF wounds to
those who were killed outright i'm bat
tie was 4S to 81, or not far from seven
to eleven. These figures are taken
from the report of the adjutant-gan-
erals office. The statistics on the Con-
federate side are less exact, but it may
be assumed that the proportion there
was about the same. AS there would
be little chance " finding out wh2ther
man found dead on the field before
medical assistance had reached him
had or had not been killed instanta-
neosiy, it may he also assumed that
"died Of wounds" means died In hos
pltar-the inference on the part OF
the surgeons of those days being that
death was the necessary result OF the
wounds.
1t Is some comfort to know, now
that the United States is entering
upon another armed struggle, that the
number of deaths from wounds is not
likely to DE as much ais so per cent.
as large. i'm proportion to the number
OF wounds received, as It was either in
the civil war or in any other prior to
the present generation. And this In
spite OF the more than tenfcld in
creased destructiveness of the latter
day weapons.
The reason and ground Of
this hope are not in the
nature Of the Krag-Jcrgen-
/ sen and Mauser rifles, used respective
ly by cur own and the Spanish armies,
but in the astounding progress OF the
last twenty years in the art OF surgery.
It is not because a man is hit by an
up-to-date rifle bullet more often dies
on the spot, for that this is he case Is
very far from certain. During tho
first, third and fourth quarters CT a
= modern nickel coated slugs flight IS
rendlng effect is terribly fatal, II is
9 true, but in the second quarter, or "hu-
!. name area" OF it's range il has a tenr
r dency to cut a clean hole. But all eX-
periences of recent years indicates that
where nine wounded men out OF ten
would have been buried from a fleldhos-
pial in the years between 1861 and 1865
only four would die in the year 1898
. the either six being eventually dis
J. charged safe, whole, and, probably, il
better health than they enjoyed before
/. they were wounded.
l. In fact died OF wounds" so far al
e It applies to the wars OF past genera
It tions, including our own civil war, real
ly means in most coses that death re
Il gulted from hospital gangrene,
'nospital fever" or erysipelas. The SUI
- geons Of those days were quite awar
Of ghsse SYMPHONIC. hut their cause
n had not been discovered. 1t was sur
ss posed that the atmosphere OF a hes
n. pital was impregnated with a subtle
impslpsble infection which could cni
N be combated after it had begun {
'e chow its effect in suppuration- On
fluid result OF this infection was eve
called, quaintly enough, "laudabl
- pus," because, on the theory that a Ger
tain degree Of suppuration was un
IN avoidable, it was regarded as hopeir
sign when the wound threw off th
e, troublesome humcr which II kspt
as would produce fever. II was not the
Is known, perhaps hardly even suspecte
taht the surgeon himself was actuali
A' inoculating patient after patient wit
a terrible specific disease.
" The surgeons Of the civil war wOul'
m doubtless, have besn very much Gun
prised, to hear that their hands, hastil
no rinsed in cold hydrant or spring waite
were busy carrying from wound
tx wound hundreds OF organisms, n
proper name OF which was, or was e
ed be, "Streptococcus Pyogenes." Tw
medical discoveries, one in the hcne;
en- sense OF the world empirical, the oth'
Gu resulting from purely scientific invest
gation led to the detection and appr
hension OF this wholesale assassin
Many surgeon. before the ye.
1878, would have been glad TO Ino
is how it might be possible to amputa
legs and arms without suppuratio
cd Mauy tried for a solution OF the pro
"a lem, although most we're, no doUl
ne content to take things as they fouI
NJ them, welcome the appearance OF the
in "lauda.bie pus." and fight the. to then
Inevitable Hospital fever" 1t vi
Joseph Lister. whose name is KNOWN
every surgical ward in the word. wi
first, as a veteran surgeon lately e
pressed it, started the hounds on Il
y right scene, when they we're all
- fault" This shr-wd Scotch surgco
'le coming frcm Edinburgh to Kings CO
. lege Hospital. London, about twen