Omaha daily bee., 1898-12-04
VAR ROBBED OF ITS TERRORS
Important Surgical Lessons Learned from
tha Santiago Campaign.
LARGE PER CENT OF WOUNDED RECOVER
The Small Steel Bullet Equal In
Effect Yet More Husaane Than
the Lead Bullets Of the
Civil War.

DR.. Henry Beeckman Delatour, attending
surgeon Of the Long Island College hospital,
Brooklyn, gives In the Independent his ex-
periences In treating wounded soldiers from
Santiago. The doctor confirms the claims
advanced in favor of the new steel bullet,
showing 1t to be. compared with the old lead
bullet, humane agent in war He says:
The most striking fact encountered by
the surgeon looking at the results Of the
war from the standpoint of his profession
IL the great saving Of life and limb by the
new small arm projectiies. The Mauser and
krag-Jorgensen steel-jacketed bullets are
not nearly so deadly as the old leaden
Springfield missiles. Wounds that were GER
tain death now heal up and hardly leave a
scar. We had seventy surgical cases caused
by bullet wounds at the Long Island College
hospital and out OF all or those only one
death. though a very large percentage
would most certainly have died from the
same wounds II inflicted by the weapons Of
81. For instance. there were six cases In
each OF which the lung was pierced by a
bullet. That used to be fatal, but all six
cases ended in complete recovery. We had
only one amputation In those seventy cases,
| though 1t Is safe to say that in 81 there
would have been twelve amputations, for
many OF the men who came to US were shot
through the limbs In such a manner as,
with the old bullets. would have rendered
amputation essential. A number of our
wounded had been shot through the feet.
That was a fact for which we cannot ac-
| count The bullets that struck their feet
seemed to be about spent, but still having
| force enough to penetrate the bone. AL
| most all the wounds were either in the
| upper part OF the body, or else below the
hips; the middle OF the body escaped
there was only one wound in the abdomen.
We can account for the high wounds be-
cause OF the tendency to shoot over the
heads OF the approaching troops. but can
not account for the middle Of the body es-
Gaping In the manner 1t did.
We saw no evidences that any deleterious
substances entered into any Of the missiles
fired at our soldiers by the Spaniards-brass
| cartridge shells, for instance. saw nothing
| OF any results from them and heard no COM
| plants about them. The amputation we
| had was that Of leg struck by an old fash
| ioned leaden bullet Of large calber, some
thing like Springfield. This and Mauser
ball struck the limb within an inch OF each
other. The leaden one spread and did
deal Of damage to the bone.
The effect OF the Mauser ball depends on
the range. At its greatest speed Its effect
is explosive-if ball SO travelling strikes a
man In the head 1t is liable to blow his head
all to pieces; II travelling at slower speed it
! passes through the tissues, doing more or
! less damage, according to the resistance en-
countered; when almost spent the damage
| done is much smaller II Mauser ball
strikes a solid bone 1t skaters It, but not to
the same extent as the old leaden bullet; II
1t strikes the soft part at the end Of one of
the long bones 1t passes clear through, leav-
ing a small puncture. The Mauser has sew
| eraf ways OF breaking and spreading. II 1t
is broken at the tip the jacket may he left
In one position and the lead travel on to a
I further point. We had one very curious
wound OF that sort In cases where the
jacket ripped there was, OF course. much
laceration OF tissues, otherwise the scar
made by the Mauser ball was so small that
1t was hard to fnd-nothing more than a
dimple.
The drst-aid packages carried by all the