Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-08-19
WAR GROWS MORE HUMANE.


wounds, but experts expect that II
the present general European strug'
gle not more than three will fall vic
tim to sickness to one killed on the
field of battle.
Such is the advance of army san
itation and army surgery In hit!
years. The Americans and the Jap,
anese have been the leaders. The
United States army hospitals have
installed many remarkable innova-
lions since the Spanish American wal
with it's dreadful lesson in the dan
ger of typhoid and these new ideas
have been adopted by the army sur
geon of the old world powers, says
United States army surgeon who
expresses the conviction that the
present war, the greatest yet in his
tory, 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-tir-
ing military rifle and the develop
meat in artillery will have much to
do with the change.
Those who die will die more quick
ly. Gangrene and infection will be
practically unknown quantities, it is
thought.
Before the Russo-Iapanese conflict
the armies the world over used a
high Galibres bullet, made Of +. un-
sileathed lead and creased to over
come friction in the barrel.
The muzzle velocity was less than
half that of the missiles now em-
ployed. =
Then, too, 'bayonet and sabre
charges were more common. These
resulted in hideous wounds, very
difficult for surgeons 10 handle.
The bullets which are flying III
Europe today are of less diameter
than the ordinary lead pencil. They
are jacketed with nickel. lead or stee
and have tremendous velocity
The soft, mushrooming bullet o.
the old day resulted in the shatterins
of bones and the crushing, rather
than cutting, of tissues. Infection
was almost inevitable. the grease be
ing especially unsanitary. A wount
in the abdomen was considered nee
Iessarily fatal The death rate anon.
the wounded was enormous.
In recent campaigns there are In
stances OF soldiers shot in what were
once considered vital spots who have
walked unsupported to the field hos
pitfalls.
Germany uses a Mauser rifle, will
bullet OF s nm. calibre, steel al,
copper coated. Great Britain's mis-
sile is the Lee-Enfield. calibre Z.
mm., the coating being cupro-nickel
The French weapon is the Lebe
rifle, of s nm. calibre, with bulle'
coated with nickel. Russia use
Mossin-Nagant rifles, calibre 76
mm., with bullets cupro-nickel coat
| ed. Austria's chief small arm is tn
Mannlicher. calibre s mm., with
steel sheet over the tip.
Hitting a man beyond $50 yards tn
wounds inflicted by all these bullet
are clean cut. They frequently pas
through bone tissue without splir
tcring.
| When meeting an artery the bullt
usually pushes it to one side al
goes around without cutting L,
blood channel.
Amputations are very rare con
pared with wars OF more than fit;
years ago. A bullet wound throus
joint, such as the knee or the g
bow, then necessitated the amput
ton CT the limb. Now such WOW
is easily opened and dressed
Even Russia. which made a s,
, sanitary showing in the war W.
: Japan. now has learned her lesst
e and has efficient surgical arrang
ments.
All the nations use vaccine to col
l bat typhoid, the scourge which On
e decimated camps and killed 1906
; our Spanish war.
i Every army division u3,00a to /
900 mem is supplied with four fie
+ hospitals, each capable of caring +
e los patients. There are also t,
!. excavations hospitals, with a Scapa
& ity of 700 each. for each division. I
: evacuation, hospitals. with a capa
: seriously wounded back to the h.
pitfalls at home.
al Then every officer is instruc ed
Y first aid treatment. This alleviat