Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-09-04
WAR MORE HUMANE.
Army Sanitation and Surgery Are
Now Far Advanced.
Americans and Japanese Have Been
the Leaders-Modern Weapons
Have Much to Do With
the Change.
BY q U. 8. ARMY SURGEON.
international News Servlce.)

kiHLCT0dllOndt views OCENiCcsI
In the American Civil war eight SOL
diers died of disease to one from
wounds. Experts expect that in the
present general European struggle not
more than three will fall victim to
sickness to one killed on the field Of
battle.
Such is the advance of army santa
ton and army surgery in 80 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 surgeons of the old
world powers.
So 1t 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-fring
military rife, and the development in
artillery will have much TO do with
the change.
Those who die will die more quick
ly. Gangrene and infection will be
practical unknown quantitieS, It IL
thought.
Before the Russo-Japanese conflict
the armies the world over used a
sheathed lead and creased to over
come friction in the barrel. The muz
zle 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 fol
surgeons to handle.
The bullets which are flying in Eu
rope today are of less diameter thar
the ordinary lead pencil. They are
jacketed with nickel, lead or steel
and have tremendous velocity.
The soft, mushrooming bullet o.
the old day resulted in the shatter
Ing of bones and the crushing, rather
than cutting, of tissues. Infection was
almost inevitable, the grease being es
pecially insanitary. A wound in the
abdomen was considered necessarily
fatal The death rate among tbs
wounded was enormous.
In recent campaigns there are In
stances where soldiers shot in what
were once considered vital spots have
walked unsupported to the field hos
pitfalls.
Germany uses a Mauser rifle, with
q bullet Of nm. caliber, steel ant
copper coated. Great Britain's mis-
sile is the Lee Enfield, caliber TT nm.
the coating being cupro-nickel Ths
French weapon Is the Lebel rifle, o.
nm. caliber, with bullets coated will
nickel. Russia uses Mossin-Nagan
rifles, caliber 1852 NM, with bullets
cupro-nickel coated. Austria's chic
small arm Is the Mannlicher calibel
8 NM, with a steel sheet over the
tip of the bullet
Hitting a man beyond $50 yards the
wounds inflicted by all these bullets
are clean cut They frequently pass
through bone tissue without splinter
Ing. When meeting an artery the bull
let usually pushes 1t to one side AND
goes around without cutting the blood
channel.
Amputations are very rare com
pared with wars Of more than fifty
years ago. A bullet wound through 6
joint, such as the knee or the elbow
then necessitated the amputation o.
ethe limb. Now such a wound Is cas-
lily opened and dressed.
Even Russia, which made a sac
sanitary showing in the war will
Japan, now has learned her lesson anC
has efficient surgical arrangements
All the nations use vaccine to com
bat typhoid, the scourge which once
decimated camps and killed 1900 IL
our Spanish war.
Next to typhoid. dysentery is thu
great army scourge. This is attacked
by steriliZing the drinking water.