Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-06-08
PERILs OF CONCLUSION
Soldiers Often Suffer Injury on Ae.
count of Big Guns.

count OF Dug IunS.
That blindness can be caused by
concussion is one Of the many medi
cal surprises Of the war;
A man, says a writer in the Lancet,
after more or less prolonged fatigue,
induced by marching and exposure in
the trenches, is incapacitated by the
explosion Of a shell in his immediate
vicinity. He may be merely knocked
down on thrown in o the air and more
or less seriously injured or wounded
by concussion, shrapnel bullets or shell
splinters. Consciousness Is lost for a
variable time, but often not 80 far as
to prevent automatic movements, so
that the man may walk in a dazed
condition to a dressing station.
At this stage, 1t would appear, the
mental balance is very much dis
turbed, nor does memory retain any
record Of the phase. But the man Is
"instaptaneously struck blind" and
this may be associate with deafness,
loss Of smell and taste. The eyes are
found to be watering freely and the
lids tend to keep tight shut After
the lapse Of week or two they be-
come less tender, and then on exami-
nation it is found, very often, that the
eyes are quite normal.
BY this time, too, some sight has
been recovered, and light can be
distinguished from darkness. The
patient gropes about, but curiously
enough does not seem to stumble up
against objects in his path yet 1t Is
found that his field Of vision Is re-
stricted, indeed, to a degree which
seems scarcely consistent with the
avoidance Of obstacles in walking.
Eventually complete. though slow, re-
covery takes place.
1t appears curious to the oculist
who contributes this record that the
eye to recover last is frequently the
Shooting eye," and that some Of the
patients candidly admit to being in
blue funk" also that in all there
has been complete mental upset,
He dismisses, however, as cruel
injustice the suggestion that sham
ming may be an explanation. These
cases, he says, are to be regarded as
examples Of injuries or wounds to
consciousness" The problem ia psy-
Geological and clearly demands a most
careful and minute study Of the evo-
luton Of character.
1t would seem that as the result
of severe and sudden shock the con-
scious mind, with it's high attributes
Of control and determination, is
thrown out Of action; the "subcon-
scious mind, about which so much
has been written Of late, Is a kind
Of storehouse Of forgotten and un-
remembered things events and ideas
which belong to the past Of the race
as well as to that Of the individual,
but Of the presence Of which within
him the individual Is scarcely con-
scious or not at all conscious, as the
case may be. The highest centers
in his brain ceases to functionate.
Powerful primeval instincts resume
sway and a block" occurs between
the mechanism and the PERCEPTION Of
sight which is in some respect COM
parable to the block which is often
noticed when reading an uninterest-
ing book, and by reason of which
nothing is conveyed to the mind
though the words are seen quite
clearly.
1t is pointed out that these
wounds to consciousness" are not
confined to one particular sense; 1t
may be urged-and that is the gen.
eral application Of this most inter-
esting contribution-that rash and
cruel judgments in which occur the
terms nervous wreck and "neu-
rotic," not to speak Of more unpleas-
ant taunts, shall be avoided at all
costs The effects Of modern shell
fire are still not completely under
STOOD that they are profound from
psychological as we'll as from a ply
sical point a view scarcely admits of
doubt.-London Dispatch to New York
un.