Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-09-23
TREATING JAPANESE WOUNDED.
Wonderful Recoverles Due Mainly to the
Simplicity Of the DIet-Rlce, Fish and
Vegetable.

AL the leading nations sent representa-
tive medical men to Japan when the war
with Russia broke out, for the purpose of
learning all that could be learned there
in regard to the treatment of men suffer-
ing from bullet wounds. 1t appears from
a report by j. Gordon Smith, a British
observer, that the wonderful Japanese
nation is as much ahead of Great Britain
and the United States in hospital prac-
tice and in the feeding of soldiers as ii
has shown itself to be in some other re-
spects. Mr. Smith is evidently a very
competent writer. He fell in with DIR. l..
L. Seaman, who was on duty as a mill
tary surgeon during the Spanish-Ameri-
can war, and presents the results of DR..
Seaman's observations as well as his
own, in Japan. The facts reported are
certainly remarkable.
AT the hospital in Toxic, which he was
permitted to visit, over a thousand men
suffering from bullet wounds had been
treated, and not one of them had died
from the effects of his wounds These
cases were, Of course, not the worst ones,
bus among the number were at least fifty
men whose lungs had been perforated
Six men, through whose abdominal cav
Tits bullets had passed, were GONZALES
cent after six weeks of treatment and
two We're complaining because they were
not sent bacl, and allowed to resume field
duty. In these cases of perforation there
was no tearing of the flesh by the bullets
The hole where the bullet came out was
no larger than the one made by its en-
trance. Mr.. Smith saw man getting
along nicely who had received a
bullet just under the left eye 1t had
perforated bone and tissue coming out be-
low the scapula of his right shoulder
Another had received a bullet in his fore
head, which had passed out through the
back OF his head. Still another was re-
covering rapidly after having received a
bullet in his chin. which had come out at
the top OF his head. The japanese sur
geons do not operate upon men who have
been hit by Russian bullets, except in
cases OF extreme urgency. They simply
take the utmost care as to what The
wounded man eats and drinks and let ma
ture do the rest. Nature does its work
well all the time. Dr. Seaman was not
only in the Spanish-American war but
saw the wounded in China during the
Boxer uprising, and was in the hospitals
OF South Africa during the Boer war. He
attributes the remarkable number of re-
coVeries in the Japanese hospitals mainly
to the simplicity of the diet furnished
rice, fish and single vegetable. He saw
no meat, but in some cases eggs were
served. The following instructive con-
trast Is given In DR.. Seaman's own words:
1.-THE United States have much to learn
III the matter of military ration, especi-
ally for fighting in. hot climates The
! FIRST volunteer engineers whom l accom-
panied TO Porto Rico in the war with
Spain, were 1000 men selected from 900
applicants, all picked men. They arrived
without man sick In three months
they returned home. They had never been
under fire, never smelled powder, and had
no hardships whatsoever, yet that regi-
ment weighed collectively between five or
six tons less than when it started, 13
men We're dead and $50 on stretchers and
hospital cots, while the remainder looked
like the entire American army did when
1t returned from Cuba-a physical wreck.
The Nineteenth Infantry (regulars) were
encamped with us at the same time.
They had not been under fire Their
death list totaled thirty-two men, and
the percentage of sick was twice that of
our force.
ITO my mind this condition was solely
due to an improper diet. Instead of be-
ing rice diet when the digestion was inn
paired the men We're servd with salt
horse rich meat, fermenting tomatoes,
beans, etc. The aggravating irritation of
the intestinal tract as a result of the i'm
proper diet soon produced disease that
fioored the forces. l and other surgeons
begged for rice, but could not get 1t.
Uncle Sam seemed to think that the same
diet which was used among the SHOWS of
Alaska was good enough for the heat of
the tropics. The result was that the