Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-05-19
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Effect of Railroad Surgery on
the Science in General


which Army Surgeons Have TO
Meet.
NEW YORK, May ts.-[Special Last
weeks frightful Reading railroad accident
brings the subject of railroad surgery to
the front, subject by the way, that
should interest every one who ever travels
by train.
Many columns Of praise, most of it wise
ly bestowed, has been lavished within the
past year upon the army surgeons serving
in Cuba and the Philippines, yet it is only
right to say that as u rule the railroad
surgeon has work quite as difficult cut
out for him after a big accident as the
army surgeon after battle, and there is
no doubt at all that treatment of hurt
received in n railroad accident is often
much more complicated than the treat
ment of a far worse looking gunshot
wound.
Railroad and Army Surgery.
The latter is generally clean cut, and
the damage is almost invariably confined
to the parts visibly involved but the in
jury inflicted to "A hand or a foot, an arm
or a leg, caught between car bumpers or
crushed by car wheels is generally much
worse and extends great deal farther
than appearances would indicate This is
because there is always q drawing, grind
ing effect in railroad accident. 1t would
be unpleasant to have a finger shot of,
but the wound II dressed at once would
heal in few days and there would be
little or no danger of blood poisoning,
But the reverse is true when finger is SO
crushed in a railroad accident as to re-
,k.-a hn sol nd Tan
dons of the whole hand, sometimes the en-
tire forearm, are pulled and twisted by the
drawing force of the smash until the en-
tire organization of the limb seems bro
ken down and the flbers virtually die.
Other crushing injuries apparently SINH
lar to those received in railroad accidents
are not nearly so dangerous because the
force Of the injuring blow Is so much less.
You might pinch your fingers in the
crack of door with apparently as bad re-
suits as If the same fingers had been
caught between cars, but really the latter
would be a much graver accident. Only
the force required to shut the door on
your hand would have been exerted in the
first hurt. In the second the hand would
have been smashed by a force equal to
that of several hundred horses for the
power of at least one ponderous locomo-
tive, and quite likely two, would have been
spent upon the member
Why Railroad Surgeons Favor AM
putation.
Sooner or later after the injury in such
case the arm becomes discolored and blood
poisoning is exceedingly imminent and
often cannot be avoided. Now blood
poisoning means death in the majority Of
cases, and this is why railroad surgeons
are so prone to suggest amputation and
why it is SO much moro often necessary
after a railroad casualty than any other
form of accident. 1t was stated to the
writer by maker Of artificial arms and
legs not long ago that only about 100
false limbs were rendered necessary by in
| juries received in the war with Spain,
whereas the regular annual demand for
such limbs in this country is not far from
10000, most Of which are taken by the VIC
tins of railroad mishaps.
! The reader will easily perceive from all
/ this why the claim Of the railroad sur
/ geons that they have more difficult prob
/ lens than most other practitioners to solve
is generally accepted by the profession at
large as correct and how it is that the
railroad practitioners have contributed
immensely TO the sum Of surgical knowl-
edge within the past half century. In
deed there is no doubt whatever that much
of the splendid work done recently by our
army surgeons was rendered possible only
by the experiences of the railroad surgeons
from year TO year, to which the public has
paid little or no attention.
doubtedly there have been as note
worthy displays of nerve among railroad
men in time of accident as ever were
shown by soldiers on the field Of battle,
but yet there is a curious and easily ex-
planned difference between the fortitude OF
the two classes. In the first place the sol
der who goes into battle Is nerved up to
the highest tension. AS q rule he expects
to be killed or wounded, and, even II he
doesn't, he knows full well that he runs
great chanoee-in fact, ne is there for the
purpose of killing and being killed. But
while the railroad man is fully aware that
he may be hurt he also knows the chances
TO be the other way. He is not keyed W
to high tension, therefore, and when hi;
hurt comes it is almost invariably accom-
panied by the most intense surprise.
Yet there are instances a-plenty of hurt
railroad men walking miles from the scene
of an accident unaided, though literally
bleeding to death. They often submit t
the most painful operations without tax
ing an@sthetics and without tremor
| frequently lntl ntlp lho
geon in the operation, and more than ont
hurt railroad man has smoked comfort
ably while the operation was in progress
Just after nearly every great battle II
history stories have been told of desperate
" wounded men who have sung songs
crack ed jokes and told stories in the yer.
face OF death with what seems like tn
supremest nerve Almost every railroad
surgeon of extended experience can relat
many similar demonstrations on the par
Of engineers, conductors brakemen
sWitchmen and the like. To the expert
? enced surgeon such things do not indicat
GOODNESS so much as shock.
! Natures Merciful Provision.
, "Naturh. haS-kindly provided shock,
said railroad surgeon to the writer to
DAY, las a safeguard against insanity AM
death from excitement and horror in case
of severe bodily injury. The person suffer
e ing from the sort Of shock have in min
may be perfectly conscious mentally G
what is going on-may perceive, for in
stance, that foot or an arm is missing
that he is bleeding profusely, and that III
f. itself is trembling in the balance-but tn
: nerves of feeling may be completely para
lived and the emotions wholly deadened
The work Of the surgeon would be almos
o Infinitely more difficult were not sue
n shook often present, and the agony Of tn
dying would far more frequently be terri
fyingly acute.
a IL xvould NOT ha eaav 10 eatimatA til