The Detroit times., 1914-11-20
|RAPNEL WORSE
HAEDUMDUMS,
SURGEONS SAY
4 steel Shell Filled With
Bullets and Exploded
4 BY a Fuse
IND BY JAGGED PIECES.
IS DIFFICULT TO TREAT
<othsr Wound That BOthers
the Field Hospital Is That
Of the Bayonet

E||f tH
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20,--Next to
naiim bullets, shrapnel r the curse
modern warfare from a medical
ondpoine according 70 Dr.z-.C. e.
crte. one OF the Surgeons .caanected
HUI tbe Public Health and Marine
pepital Service. -
ave can usually FIX M 3 man II he's
oonded by a lIllis:.2 said DR.. Pierce.
helher the bullet comes from a
he or a machine gun, hut the high
<rcentage 81 mortality in war comes
mi shrapnel. dumdun ard bayonets.
'Arapnel is the worse Of al. \ shrap,
b Noand Il usually caused BY a Jag
~ FIRE zalas piece u smell, which
.raily tears away the flesh and tissue
'ths.f there is little ieft 10 mend. r.
"a shrapnel shell Is usually of steel
AIDED with cast-iron balls about an
ch N diameter. In tne head of the
Neil there Il time frBe. which Is set
~ by the shock on. the SIGH ss 70
4rlkps The filsc communicates 70
IA Explosive WITHIN md the shells
1rsfs scattering it's fragments aud
IA ir1n shot inside ~ 20 ~
surgery has made great
riles, and no greater progress has
Zen made tlsan In the~nse or anti
tptirs Ihfring the civil war IN was,
<oG svrgical practice TO carefully
&an the edges OF the wound, wash
|>fh soap and water and then probe
Tie bullet, or other foreign mat
IN the wound. The growing use or
Hclurr CT iodine as An anttseptte has
<o1t fher changed this method. Now
81 we get the ordinary case Of gun
~ wound. We simply swab the
1ne into the wound. pick out any
&Iblc foreign matter, and sew IL up.
{fs nothing more than bullet the
In Will grow about IL and there will
nc more trouble.
<tIt * almost useless TO probe for
&11et unless il Is through the thigh.
Ia. shoulder or some other part that
not vital In addition IL wastes
1ch time and the shock TO the pa
mt Is terrific.
Sk1apneI. military experts say. Is
va fC locate and silence small bat
les. such as machine guns. The
N thing that prevents shrapnel
ia being one OF the most deadly
<o<.ns ever devised. is the fact that
1.Iection cannot he fully controlled.
one can tell In which direction
fragments will fly. A man com
lively near the exploding shell
IN Lot be struck. while man fur
nuay may have his head torn of.
Bayonet Wound Also Bad.
Shrspnel fragments strike with
<lly more than one-third the force
Ia buiic.
>kncther element OF modern war.
IS which causes much trouble from
|<medical standpoint and which en-
s e high percentage of mortality
fhe bayonet The modern bayonet
[rkrnlIy about an inch and a half
width and perhaps ten inches long
Els edged on one side and sharp
Infed on the end Bayonet fighting
very deadly form Of warfare.
s(ially. however, bayonet wounds !
|c chove the waist--in tie shoulder. !
|<k and chest When a man has
ren jahbed IN the neck by bayonet,
<t99 raSeS oui OF 4 hundred. he VIII
ned 20 death In FIVE minutes through
6c OF the vital blood vessels being
freed.
fRaycnets are used in modern war.
re fer trench digging. and nearly
Mays these weapons carry Infection
No the wound. There Is some talk
nef tie cartending forces have been
3}ng saw-teeih bayonets, the hay.
nets having been saw.toothed~ in 81
ontt to enable the soldiers 20, saw
nod with them. The saw.tootb
ftauDn might hurt more, but II could
b hat little more damage. s..... ....
I'm the American Civil war. bay:
nets were long and pointed. not
k,ith. more than an inch wide at -ths-
Utside, and made in the form of
1fickcr They were little less
BADLY N form than the bayonetg in
use" i
y housands or housewives In Virgin
i, Maryland and Southern Pennsyl.
'nnia are ltsing old bayonets as stoSe-
N filters, having picked them Up on
finecnt battlefelds.
BIZ