The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-09-06
MOST HUMANE WAR,
SURGEONS BELIEVE
r1yfr, CONFLICT DEATH RATIO s
TO 1 WILL DwINDLE TO
TO !, THEY SAY.

That the present European war, the
rr.afest in the history OF the world.
will also be the most humane Is the
belief Of leading surgeons. They point
ont that in the American Civil War
.,~ht .oIdters died of disease to one
from wounds. They estimate that in
the war now in progress the ratio VIII
b. three TO one. They say that those
who die will die more quickly. and
tbat ransreue and infection will be
practically unknown.
Yhe modern. high power. quick fir
ing military rife and the development
in artillery are given credit Tor much
Of this change.
The Americans and Japanese nave
beeu leaders in the Improvement OF
army sanitation during the last nifty
years. The United States army hos
pitfalls have Installed many remark
able innovations since the Spanish
American war, with its dreadful les
son In the danger of typhoid. and
these new ideas have been adopted
by the army surgeons Of old world
powers
Hideous wounds Lessenea.
Before tho Russo-Japanese war the
armies the world over used large
caliber bullet, made of unaheathed
ieaa ana rrea.ed to overcome friction
in the barrel The muxzle velocity
was less than half that OF the missiles
now employed.
Then. too. bayonet and saber charges
were more common. These resulted IN
hideous wounds, very difficult for sur
gsons to handle.
The bullets which are flying in Eu-
rope today. are Of less diameter than
the ordinary lead pencil. They are
jacketed with nickel or steel. and have
tremendous velocity.
The soft. mushroomtng bullet OK the
old day resulted In the shattering OF
bones and the crushing rather than
cutting OF tissues Infection was Al
most inevitable, the grease being es-
peciHily insanitary. A wound In the
abdomen WAS .consIdered necessarily
fatal. The death rate among the
woundesl was enormous.
In recent campaigns there are In
stances where soldiers shot In what
were once considered vital spots. have
walked unsupported to the feld hos
pitfalls.
snaaIl Callber Bullets.
Germany uses . MAussr rifle. with
bullet OF eight nm. cAliber, steel
and copper coated. Great Britain's
missile Il the Lee-Enhsld, calibcr III
nm. the coating being cunro-nickel.
The French weapon 10 the Lebel
rifle, Of eight mm. caliber. with bull
lets coated with nickel. Russia uses
Mosain Migrant rifles. cafiber. 7.s3 NM.
with bullets cupro-nickel coated. Aus
triA.s chief small arm Is tho Mann
licher. cAlfber eight mrn.. with steel
sheet over the tip.
Hitting a man beyond $50 yards the
wounds indicted by all these bullets
are clean cut They frequently pass
through bono tissue without splinter
Ing.
Amputations ara very rare compared
with wars Of more than nifty years
ago. A bullet wound through Joint.
such as the knee or the elbow. then
nscessitated the amputatton OF the limb.
Now such wound 10 easily opened
and dressed.
Even Russia, which tnAds q sad
sanitary showing In the war with Ia
pan. has learned her lesson and has
efficient surgical arrangements
All the natione use vaccine to COM
bat typhoid. the scourge which once
decimated camps and killed 1900 in
our Spanish american war.
E1ela Hospitals.
Every army division us.o0o to 49,
600 men) 10 supplied with four neld
hospitals. each capable Of caring for
Jos patients. THsre are also two svac-
uatton hospitals. with capacity OF
7e0 each, for each division. The evAc-
uation hospitals send the moro seriously
wounded back to the hospitals 1t home.
lrst aid treatment This alleviakes =