Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-15
MODERN MILITARY SURGERY.
Wounds and Their Treatment rs Seen
in a British Hospital.

Cape Town Correspondence London Mail.
Naturally everybody in England takes
the warmest interest in the well being, as
we'll as the well doing of our soldiers at
the front.
We send them all out with our heartiest
good-byes, and the best of wishes, and
those who are fortunate enough to escape
the she'll or bullet Of the enemy will be
probably welcomed back. paraded through
the streets of London. with bands playing
and banners flying.
But how about those poor fellows who
may be stricken down by the foe. and have
to find their way back TO their relations
and friends only through the hospitals or
sick wards of our military medical depart
ment? They may not be able possibly to
participate in the Joyous homecoming that
awaits their more fortunate fighting chums.
and have to drag their disa bled limbs and
physically weakened bodies to their own
ftresides on discharge from some hospital
or ship, only TO miss the praise that Is so
laviShly bestowed on their fellow-comrades.
Let US follow wounded Tommy little
and learn a few things that are not gen.
orally found in the letters of correspond
enls trimming over with general martial
movements and deeds of personal valor.
To do this must keep in touch with him
from the moment he loses his identity as
fighting unit at the front, follow him down
by stretcher to the rear, thence per vessel
to the stationary hospital at Wynberg, and
from there till he is safely landed on Brit
ish shore. We must, in fret lift that veil
of uncertainty which seems, for a time at
any rate, drawn over the units career.
If one is not in the medical service it is
difficult to ascertain all that is going on in
the sick wards, but by the courtesy of the
medical branch, and by other means, We do
occasionally become possessed Of tnforma
ton that would be acceptable to the pub
lie, and by its publicity do no harm what
ever to the services concerned.
For example, what would delight the
English public more than to know some
thing about the general hospital to which
their wounded sons and brothers may be
brought?
So we pay visit and find No general
hospital to consist Of a number of brick
and wooden built tenements occupying the
ground formerly used by the colonial ser
vice their old stationary hospital and
barrack site. 1t Is located near Wynberg.
about nine miles from Cape Town, fed by
good, wholesome water from Table Noun
tain, and surface-drained by natural de-
clivity running north-northweSt by south
southeast. The officers sick quarters-a
lofty, well-butlt, wooden structure-eccU-
Ply the main frontage, this edifice being
thanked on either side by dwellings of less
pretentious character. Within lofty, we'll
ventilated and most comfortably equipped
apartments the wounued officers appear
quite jolly during their enforced brief de-
tention. Most of them are convalescent,
and TWO or three quite fit to rejoin their
regiments at the front. On the left flank
Oh these quarters are various wooden nuts
arranged in three nearly parallel rows, the
westernmost being medical, the east one
surgical, wards, for Tommy's use.
In the latter are many wounded men,
most of them convalescent, but all seem
happy and contented, not a few bearing the
impress of excellent health. After seeing
their wounds, nearly all caused by gunshot.
the onlooker is struck by the clean, we'll
defined, small, circular entrance and exit
the Mauser bullet makes. 1t produces a
canal not much, if anything, larger than
a good-siZed goose quill and cuts its way
through flesh and bone as neatly as an
archimedian drill would. leaving no ragged
edges. 1t produces little local disturbance
or bad after-affectS. Hence shock to the
system and subsequent septicaemia are
owing to the lessened destruction of soft
parts and splinteriI.g of bone, minimized
considerably. By careful antiseptic treat
ment the wounds heal in about twenty to
thirty days.
The course which some of these Mauser
bullets take without rupturing important
vessels or producing dangerous effects is
SIMPLY marvellous. To cut through soft
parts and follow the track made By these
missiles without doing irreparable injury
would tax the deXterity of the most skillful
and delicate anatomist that ever handled a
Scapel.