Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-01

ton has advanced, the nghting trade has
been more and more given over to pursuits
beneficial to mankind.
Consider, too. how much more quickly
men are now killed or put out of action
than in former wars. For now the ordnance
is destructive beyond all precedent Think
OF the hitherto unknown explosive effect OF
the high velocity projectiles; their instabi.
lily In flight: the rapid revolution of bullets
on their axis. resulting in the butterfly frac-
lures of bones; and the gaseous swelings
OF flesh. now SO fatal. producing the horrId
rotten.edged. tetanic. gangrenous wounds,
instead Of the neat former perforations.
Then. In the trench warfare peculiar to
the present struggle. but little else than the
head is exposed So that most of the
wounds are in the head, or the face Is side
wiped" in the most hideous manner; and
such wounds are peculiarly fatal.
The most terrific explosions are but a
few yards away: for the men In the oppos-
Ing trenches are oftentimes within speaking
distance. Wherefore many die. though un-
hit, OF the shock and the reverberation
alone. The shells. when they strike, slough
the flesh In large masses. huge muscles pro-
truding through great rents in the skin, II
they recover-what CHASTITY maimings. what
pitiable crpples will the sight of their
fellow creatures have 10 endure when this
war is overt
Cripples? Before the war the German
authorities prepared 100000 beds for such
cases: before March last there was in Ger
man hospitals alone need for more than
twice that number Of beds.
Men Of fhe first fighting order-from
twenty-five to thirty years of age-no
longer. have not for months sufficed to fill
the minotarr nav Of upto-date warfare
The choicest and juiciest "canonen futter"
has long ago given out. so that mere boys
and middleaged and elderly men are now
fighting
The recruit. to be ft. has got to be we'll
built Of superior muscular power. and capa-
BILE Of resisting factors that would depress
not only the body, but. still more mpor-
tant. the mind. The fact is. any male UNI
der twenty Is still in the growing. callow
stage; his skeleton, his joints. his muscles
are not yet fully developed. His chest-and
4 mans wind has got to be right 70 rcam-
raigning-has not attained the full capa-
city. Such youths organs. especially his
heart and his blood vessels, are still imma-
ture Such heart is called on for unac-
customed exercise: and then 1t throbs like
to bursting through It's bony cage. With
this the vessels swell like whipcords on
the brow" And that poor mothe son
who wasn't trained to be q soldier gets pitt
fully winded. When the wounded reach the
base hospitals. they are now examined; and
the hearts Of nearly half Of them are found
to show acute valvular disease, degenerated
heart muscle. dilated and over-worked
hearts.
The irregular and oftentimes scanty
rations ,predispose the unfit all too readily
to the camp diseases: the broken rest or the
norest at all; the forced marching; the
necessity for prompt and unerring action IL
ones life is not to be lost; the laundering
of siege guns; the screaming OF shells; the
soul-rending slaughter-by such agencies is
any one unfit for soldering soon destroyed
outright or left to linger useless for the bal
ance of his shattered life.
Not only are young recruits less fit for