El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-05

Brig Gen George r. SternbeIs. sur
gecE general OF the army has prepared
for insertion in his annual report some
interesting comments on comparison of
sunshot wounds received by American
soldiers in the Spanish-American and
Philippine wars with wounds inflicted
by the heavier bullets used in the Civil
war. The deduction drawn from COM
parative records is that the small cali
bre bullet of to day is less deadly than
the old time musket ball. Gen. Stern
berg says:
of the 1919 men injured by gunshot
during the years of 1898 and 1899. $50
were killed and 1888 were wounded
and received into the field and other
hospitals. The killed constituted 11.9
per cent. of those struck: the wounded
SS.1 per cent. In other words. one man
was killed for every "A wounded The
Mauser bullet must, therefore. be re-
garded as less deadly than the larger
missile used during the Civil war. The
medical and surgical history of the
Civil war shows the following cas-
ualties
United States troops killed $3.50:
wounded $50. 90 - 49,
Confederate troops killed II 1928;
wounded 227.S71.
Total killed III. 2S5: wounded 5O7.-
GIL
Imp recentages the casualties were:
Killed. 1897: wounded. S2.o3. or one
man killed to every 4.56 wounded. The
relative proportion of killed was
therefore considerably larger during
the Civil war than during our recent
experiences. 1t is to be noted that
many of the wounds of the past two
years were made by missiles of large
calibre. OF those reported in 1899, All
were especially stated as having been
caused by the Remington bullet of cali
bre As. 1t is safe to say that had the
whole number of wounds received been
inflicted by the smaller Mauser or
Krag -Jorgensen bullet. the percentage
of Immediately fatal wouds would have
been materially lessened.
The less deadly character of the in
juries inflicted by the modern bullet is
manifested also when we exclude the
killed and regard only those wounds
which came under the care of the sur
geons OF those during the two years
there were 1888, and 259 of the patients
or per cent of the whole number. died.
The corresponding percentage from the
records of the civil war was 14.3. Table
c. in part l. of the medical volume of
the Medical a nd Surgical History of
the War of the Rebellion shows that
among the white trops of the army
there were 23o.01S gunshot wounds. of
which 80 9O7 or 14.3 per cent proved
fatal.
The marked reduction of the ratio
of killed ar wounded may be placed to
the credit OF the small calibre hui
but the lessened mortality among the
cases which came into hospital may
not wholly be attributed to the hui
name character of the wounds inflict-
ed by this missile. Due credit must be
given to the improved surgical met
hodS of the present day. Wounds of
any region of the body may be taken
into comparison and the result will
always be found to show a decided
lessening in the percentage of cases
ending fatally among the past two
wears as compared with those of the
Civil Wa +. Take. for instance, gun
shot wounds of the femur. During
the Civil War surgeons in the field
hospitals regarded a fractured femur
as serious menace to life. the danger
from which Was believed to be material
ly lessened bv an immediate amputa-
ton. The field and ship surgical work
after a battle consisted in great part of
amputations, eXcisions and resections.
OF 6576 fractures of the femur. 1928
cases were treated by primary ampu-
tation, 1856 by resection and the re-
naming 3467 by conservative or ex-
pectant measures this conservative
action being due in many cases to a
want of favorable conditions for the
performance of primary operations.
T he limb was promptly amputated in
44.4 per cent of these gun shot frac-
lures. o n the other hand. during
the past two years So cases of gunshot
fracture OF the femur were reported.
six of which were treated by primary
amputation and two by resection. the
remaining "a cases being treated by
conservative methods. not because the
conditions were not favorable for the
but because of conviction that under
present methods of treatment the limb
could be preserved without adding ma
terially to- the danger to life. The
limb was lost through surgical inter
vention In only 1.3 of the cases.