The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-15
MILDER MILITARY SURGERY.
Striking Success of the ROntgez
Rays in RattIefeId Operations.

Rays IN H0ttleheId Operations.
From the London Standard
The interesting and important subject OF
the use of the Rontgen rays in military
surgery was dealt with last night at the
meeting of the Rontgen Society, in the
rooms of the Medical Society. Cavendish
square. by Maj. j. Battersby Royal Army
Medical Corps. Maj. Battersby was en-
gagged with the expeditionary force in the
Soudan, and at the battle of Omdurman,
and most of his work was actually per-
formed in the hospital at Abadir. Mr. Man
sell Mullin, the president of the society,
was ia the chair, and there was a large
attendance. The chairman briefly intro
duced the lecturer. Maj. Battersby, at the
outset, said that he had been indebted to
Mr.. Mackenzie Davidson, with a modifica-
ton of whose apparatus he had been able
to locate many deep-seated bullets in the
Soudan. He did not expect that they
knew less about x-rays Than he did, but
he was glad to state that the army medical
corps were largely using the x-rays in
their work, and that now every military
hospital was fitted with the apparatus
The system has been utilized by Maj.
BeeVor in the cold of Chitral, and he him
self had used il in the intense heat of
the oOutitis 50 thai II mas -beGH lSSlSN III
the extremes Of heat and cold. 1t was,
however, necessary 10 cover the coils with
felt, and keep them constantly damp. He
referred TO the differences of opinion as 10
the use of the rays, but he himself had
no doubt that they were Of invaluable as
sistance in locating bullets in shot wounds,
but there was this to be said that diff
culties arose in the deep-seated parts of the
body. He did not doubt further that they
would be of great value in surgery espe-
cially in locating Assesses and the like
He turned chiefly to the use of the rays in
practical military surgery. He mentioned
as a curious fact that often the wrong side
was operated upon. owing to it being for
gotten that the skograph reversed the
picture of the injury. In fractures of the
pelvis the rays had not helped the surgeon
much but they had been found most useful
in the case of injuries to the knees Much
useful information would result if a sys.
tematic examination was made in every
case of suspected fracture Skiography
would especially save many a child from
permanent dslocation of limbs and it had
been most useful when dealing with for.
eign bodies, which We're Opaque to the
rays. AS lead was one Of the fatter. the
rays were of great value to the military
surgeon.
In twenty-one cases of British wounded
oAtti tue bhltl- Oh .OIlQuIfldn, where the
position of the bullets could not be locat-
ed, twenty were found by means of the
rays, and the only exception was that OF
a lung wound, when the patient was too
i'll 10 be examined. The surgeons in charge
of the field hospital bore high testimony
to the value of the apparatus and they
found in il a probe which was painless,
certain and antiseptic. Some sixty obser-
vaticns were made in the Soudan. with
fN7aa l.
had to be dealt with on its own merits
They had localized most of the bullets
by a system of cross autographs. and by
a modification of the Mackenzie David
sons localizing apparatus He recommend
ed light apparatus for field work
The greatest difficulty was the creation
of the current, but in the Soudan they
had used a dynamo driven by a tandem
bicycle. Screen work was most important
in field surgery, as 1t enabled the operator
to explore any part Of the body without
delay. After the lecture the major threw
on the screen a number of highly inter-
esting photographs and skiographs taken
during the recent expedition. The field
hospital at Abadir. on the Nile just be-
fore a dust storm overlook 1t, made 1t a
weird and curious picture. Some of the
skiographs WILDLY showed how severe
were wounds received from dervish bull
let's the bones exhibiting bad fractures
in many cases, while on the other hand
the usefulness Of the rays was demon
strated in the case Of wounds received
from spent bullets. These latter In the
skiograph were made clear at once, owing
to the presence Of the missiles in the
wound, and the probing which formerly
took place was avoided, while in all cases
the extraction of bullets was made easy.
Maj. Battersby was coria1y thanked for
his contribution to the scientific know
ledge of the use of the Rontgen rays.
A German paper contains the follow
Ir.. .aric... nA.-orIl.n..,or.4. .....I...