The Cape weekly tribune. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1914, 1914-08-21
DISEASE TO KILL
MORE THAN WAR
Army Surgeon Thinks One
Will Die in Battle to Three
of Illness
By a U. S. Army Surgeon.

can Civil War eight soldiers died of
disease to one from wounds. Experts
who have carefully studied the Eu-
ropean struggle say not more than
three will fall victim to sickness to
one killed on the field of battle.
Such is the advance of army SAM
tation and army surgery in fifty years.
The Americans and the Japanese have
been the leaders. The United States
army hospitals have installed many
remarkable innovations since the
Spanish-American War with its dread
full lesson in the danger of typhoid
and these new ideas have been adopt
ed by the Army surgeon of old world
powers.
So it is expected that the present
war, the greatest yet in history also
will be the most humane. There will
be no disproportionate mortality list
from disease and no army of cripples
as an aftermath.
The modern high-power, quick-fir
ing military rifle and the development
in artillery will have much to do with
the change.
Those who die will die more quickly.
Gangrene and infection will be
practically unknown quantities, it is
thought.
Before the Russo-Japanese conflict
the armies the world over used a high
calgre bullet, made of unsheathed
lead and creased to overcome friction
in the barrel.
The muzzle velocity was less than
half that of the missiles now employ
ed.
Then, too, bayonet and sabre
charges were more common. These
resulted in hideous wounds. very diff
fcult for surgeons to handle.
The bullets which arc flying in Eu-
rope today are of less diameter than
the ordinary lead pencil. They are
iacketed with nickel. lead or steel and
have tremendous velocity.
The soft, mushrooming bullet of the
old day resulted in the SCATTERING OF
bones and the crushing, rather thar
cutting, of tissues. Infection was al
most inevitable, the grease being
especially unsanitary. A wound il
the abdomen was considered necessar'
lily fatal. The death rate among the
wounded was enormous.
In recent campaigns there are in
stances where soldiers shot in wha
were once considered vital spots have
walked unsupported to the field hos
pitfalls.
Germany used Mausor rifle, will
bullet of nm. calibre, steel ant
copper coated. Great Britain's mis-
! sles are the Lee-Enfield, calibre T.
NM, the coating being cupro-nickel.
The French weapon is the Lebe
, rifle, of nm. calibre, with bullets
coated with nickel. Russia uses Mos
! sion-Nagant rifles, calibre 1852 nm.
with bullets cupo-nickel coated. Au
stria's chief small arm is the Mann
!. licher, calibre s mm., with a stee
E sheet over the tip.
Hitting a man beyond $50 yards tn
i, wounds inflicted by all these bullet
are clean cut. They frequently pas
through bone tissue without splinter
o ing.
' When meeting an artery the bullo
$ usually pushes it to one side and goe
! around without cutting the bloc
channel.
Amputations are very rare com
: pared with wars of more than fit
n years ago. a bullet wound through
d Joint, such as the knee Of the elbow
then necessitated the amputation c
= the limb. Now such a wound is easil
= opened and dressed.
: Even Russia, which made a sa
J: sanitary showing in the war wit
u Japan, now has learned her lesson an
. has efficient surgical arrangement
a All the nations use vaccine to con
e bat typhoid, the scourge which ono
decimated camps and killed 1000
our Spanish War.
N Every army division $4,000
$4,000 men) is supplied with four fie
a hospitals, each capable of caring fC
10S patients. There are also two evi
cuation hospitals, with capacity
y 700 each, for each division. I'll
3. evacuation hospitals send the mo-
=, seriously wounded back to the hosp
De tails at home.
I'd Next to typhoid dysentery is Il
IS great army scourge. This is attack
u by sterilizing the drinking water.
e. History shows sanitation has oft
n determined the fate of nations,
a 1892, when the fine prussian troo
1g marched to the relief of Louis X
r the raw levies of the young repub
= met and repulsed them General