New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-12
U. S. Army Surgeons Point
to Advances in Surgery
and Sanitation.
NEW METHODS BAR
ARMY OF CRIPPLES
Amputations Will be Fewer than
Before, but Instant Death
More Common.

York stations agree mat the present
European war will be settled in much
shorter order than most persons
believe possible, and that it will be
the most humane ever waged There
will be no lengthy mortality list from
disease and no army OF cripples will
result. they are convinced.
Recent advances in surgery and san
itation will be the cause. The high
power, quick-fring military rife and
the development in artillery will. how
ever, tend to make the mortality list
greater than in any previous war
Those who die will die quickly. Deaths
will be due to accuracy, long range
and rapid. firing, and not to disease or
infected wounds
"Gangrene and infection" declared
an army surgeon who is recognized as
an authority, will be practically un-
known quantities in the wars of the
future"
Until the Russo-Japanese War black
powder and a large calibre bullet COM
prised the ammunition Of the armies
Of the world. The bullets were Of un-
sheathed lead, creased to overcome
friction in the barrel. Their muzzle
velocity was less than one-half that
of the missiles in arms now employed.
Up to that time bayonet and sabre
charges. prolific of hideous and dan
oerous wounds. were common. Such
charges are now considered medieval.
The bullets now used are Of less diam
eter than the ordinary lead pencil and
are jacketed with steel, nickel or lead;
They have a tremendous velocity and
low trajectory.
Wounds from the oldtime musket and
military rife, with their soft, mush-
rooming bullet. resulted in shattered
bones and crushed flesh. Infection OF
gunshot wounds was almost inevitable.
A wound in the abdomen was neees-
sarily fatal. The death rate from
wounds was enormous.
Many Wounds Not Fatal.
Nowadays. with the military rifles
such as all the great powers use and
the degree to which surgery has adj
vanced, soldier may be shot through
what once was regarded as vital spot
and walk unsupported to he field hos
pital at the rear. Such cases are on
record.
Great Britain uses the Lee-Enfeld
rife. calibre m nm, the bullet coat
ed with cupro-nickel. French soldiers
are equipped with the Lebel rife, cali
bre nm, with bullets coated with
nickel. Germany employs the Mauser
rife. calibre s NM, with bullets steel
and copper coated. Russia uses Mos
sin-Nagant rifles, calibre 1852 NM,
with bullets cupro-nickel coated. Aus
tria's small arm is the Mannlicher,
calibre mm., with a steel sheet coat
over the bullet.
Beyond $50 yards the wounds IN
hicted by such bullets are clean cut,
frequently passing through bone It's
sue without splintering. The arteries
are seldom injured by such wounds,
as the bullet, going through the flesh,
pushes the blood vessels to one side.
The advance in surgery. moreover,
has been such that wounds which were
formerly fatal, or at least necessltat-
ed amputation, are now healed without
such an operation. Formerly bullet
wound through a joint, such as the
knee or elbow, necessitated the ampu-
tation of the limb. Now such wound
is opened and dressed and heals with
out amputation.
Russia, which once Jagged behind the
other great powers in medical and sanl-
tary efficiency, learned lesson IN her
war with Japan.
Able to Fight Typhoid Fever.
Russia. France, Great Britain, Ger
many and Austria now use vaccine to
combat typhoid, once the fatal scourge
of every campaign.
All these nations have been busy IN
the last twenty years building up fine
medical corps. Their hospital services
employ the latest ideas in army sani-
tatioh' many of them copied from the
hospital service of the United States
Army. The hospital corps are com
posed of especially selected men trained
IN caring for the sick and wounded, as
we'll as in preventive work.
Every army division is supplied with
four field hospitals, each capable OF
caring for 1903 patients. There are
also two evacuation hospitals, with
capacity of 700 each, for each DIVISION
These may be from twenty-five to nifty
miles in the rear of the army, and II
is from them that the more seriously
wounded are shipped back to the hos
pitfalls at home.
BESIDES the hospital corps, which has
hearers on the field Of battle ready 70
rush the wounded back to the field
hospitals. each officer in the American
and European armies is instructed in
first aid treatment, so that there need
be no delay in caring for the wounded
and no excuse for allowing infection
10 set in, even in the heat of battle.
Disease Main Factor.
The prevention methods and i'm
proted sanitary arrangements which
have developed within the last gen
Grafton in the armies Of the world are
generally regarded as even more i'm
nortant than the treatment of the
wounded. In the Civil War eight SOL
diers died of disease TO every one who
succumbed to wounds. Experts have
figured that in the coming European
war not more than three will die o.
disease 70 one killed in battle.
The camp pestilences have always
heen typhoid ard dysentery. Until
about fifteen years ago the causes Of
these diseases and the prevention were
rot known. Now both have been ascer-
tanned and are effectively fought. The
tvpboid germ is attacked by vaccina-
ton and the dysentery parasite by
sterilizing drinking water.
During the Spanish War there were
90 600 cases of typhoid among the
.xiJtarg in loss than three