Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
WOUNDS BY GUNSHOT
Cases in Records of the Medi-
cal Museum.
THE VARIOUS EFFECTS
RECALLED BY INJURIES IN JAP
RUSSO WAR.
DR.. Roosevelt Park Tells Of His Inves-
legations Into the Cause
and Effects
THE VARIOUS EFFECTS

paigns In the Philippines. The records of
the Army Medical Museum in this city are
replete with interesting cases of the recent
conflicts, showing the effect of the modern
all-caliber firearms now used by every
civilized nation. There are also records
in the museum of wounds received by Boer
and Briton in the late campaign in South
Africa.
One of the papers, by Roswell Park, pro-
fessor of surgery in the University Of Buff
falo, who made careful study of gunshot
wounds made by modern missiles in the
war with Spain, states that despite the
army In military campaign are due to
death from disease, the subject of gun
shot wounds Will always possess for the
surgeon peculiar fascination and a large
degree of humanitarian interest.
The general Importance Of the subject"
says DR. Park, Combined with its peculiar
opportuneness at this time, has led me to
very willingly accede to the request of our
President that l should make some GEN
eral remarks on the subject"
The paper states that in the latter part
OF the fourteenth and the early part of
the ffteenth centuries Braunschweig. q
noted military surgeon, who died in 1888,
held that gunshot wounds were poisoned
wounds. The custom of the day was to
cduteriZe all these wounds with boiling
oil in order thus to destroy the poison,
During one of the campaigns of the famous
general Monte Jan, there was such lack
OF inns not oil that 1t could not be used
as he had previously seen 1t used He
hoteu at once that the wounds which had
not been thus cauterized did better than
those In which 1t was used. and this
cL'rIcaI observation at once prompted the
great reform which must ever be connect
ca with MS name, and from that early Gay
TO the present few, if any, great military
sur uase eI, thought much about their poison
Baron larrey, the great surgeon oe the
Napoleonic campaigns, had an enormous
experience, says Dr. Park. 1t is said thai
curing the retreat from Moscow he made
IN IN one DAY ~" amputations with his own
hahuS, a record which has never been an
preached by any one else From his div
uu"h TO the present, while experience ac-
cumulated the only thing that we nee1
p"Il4cuiaFly note in this connection is the
generally prevailing Impression that while
a gunshot wound is not necessarilv a
poisoned wound, it is practically ALWAYS
necessary to remove the bullet when II Rae
iouseu IN the tissues, notion which even
yet prevails among those not fully inforr
ed on this subject o' All
IL Is hardly necessary" adds S,,rgao,
dIh' 10 contrast the horrors of the old
uass before the antiseptic era. with the
r n,liulS results obtained now under the new
method OF treatment The horrible prev
aiehce or erysipelas, tetanus and ntho-
thiectons under the old regime. the friebt.
!ui mortality of the past have not an.ire
~ ~ ui5a ppeared as yet. but have been
measures The majority of men now , -
az NOT necessarily fatally injured can he
redeemed from the military cerefer;as b'
'he methods at present in use'
Callber of Standard Weapons.
PREVIOUS to 1885 France had an 11-mtlu-
meter chassepot weapon. In 1886 the cali
nei WIS reduced to millimeters. At about
me same time various other nations re
uuceu also the caliber of their standard
weapons from 1915 or 1880 milItmeters
Gown to the S-millmeter size of France
x US Id ana denmark. Chile and Peru use
- ,,o-miiiimeter bullet, China and
japan ~ mtlimeters The ItoIians ~,
thelr last Abyssinian CAMPAIGN usad a q
mlIIlmeter ball. To this last fact has hoe,
aScrlbed part of the misfortune which ~
q ct"lL' mans; suffered in that campaign. Their
% Hilllineter Mannlicher bullets failed to
disable the Abyssinians So marked raS
thls failure that for some time their am
muntlon was supposed to have been tam
pGrea with, so ineffective was it,
1t mas been stated as a great arpu,ep+
IN favor OF the new small-caliber PROTECTIVE
mat 1t is capable of passing through
Twelve to fifteen men at ordinary short
range; mis- is true, says Surgeon Park
PR, II does not strike fluid tissues
but IT loses Its energy by exploding fluid,
containing organs like the heart bladder
brain and the like, when it will lose its en-
ergy so fast that 1t cannot pass through
more than three or four men
In the Chitral campaign the prisoners ac
counted Tor the absence of dead enemies
on the battlefield by saying that unless a
man was shot through the head or bowels
disabled unless by wound Of his lower
joints But the Chitrals themselves with
their large-caliber As rifles, disabled q
great many of the British soldiers, and
killed almost every time they hit
The rifle which our regular infantry and
cavalry now use is the Kras -Jorgensen
arm. and has a caliber of 30 equal to 60
millimeters. The Mauser ball used by the
Spanish in the late war with this country
is little smaller than this-7 millimeters
The marines in our navy use a still small
er caliber. equal to millimeters. Our In
fantry bullet has a length of 4 calibers,
German silver The projectile leaves the
rifles muzzle with a velocity of over 1900
feet to the inch. If the mantle or Jacket
be undisturbed, such a bullet thrown from
some three miles If given a proper eleya-
ton. But when the Jacket is loosened in
Its passage through the gun barrel It is
capable of infilcting very ragged and de-
structive wound.
The Spanish Mauser Bullet.
Surgeon II. Beeckman Delatour describes
the Spanish Mauser bullet used In the San
tago campaign as IAN outer Jacket of
nickel and a core of lead, and is of 81
caliber. The rife Is Of the rapid-fire va
riety, delivering some forty bullets per
minute, and is effective up to 1900 yards.
At the Long Island hospital there were ad-
mitted to DR.. Delatour's service during the
first two weeks of July, 1898 some seventy
soldiers from the battlefeids of Cuba
Some were only slightly injured and able
to be about Some, while not confined to
bed by their wounds, were yet unable to
go about because of fever infection. while
some were so seriously injured and in such
poor general health that their condition
was critical.
colored regular cavalryman was ad-
mitted with graduating wound of the
scalp. There was complete paralysis OF
the right upper extremity. The posterior
point was the site OF entrance, while the
parietal bone was the point of exit of the
bullet. AT the field hospital the fragments
OF bone had been removed and the wound
dressed. In the Long Island hospital the
graduating surface was simply dressed
until 1t healed The paralysis Of the arm
rapidly improved, and on September Z, 1893,
the day of the troopers discharge the
function was nearly restored.
An interesting case cited was where the
Spanish bullet entered the soldiers left
cheek. split the inferior maxilla dislodging
the second molar, and passing through the