Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-05-28

heavy medallion. the rift OF the ruler
of . German state. A noted literateur
has donated 8 similar gift from the
king cs Sweden. Wedding rings, seal
rings, necklaces, gold coins. from Eng
land and from Turkey. even old gold
teeth, haye poured In on DR.. Bruhn.
to be melted up and find their way into
the mouths OF wounded soldiers.
Men who have viewed war from all
angles and who are intimately ac-
quainted with it's horrors have de-
clared repeatedly that the worst part
Of 1t is in the hospitals. The orthopedic
institutions, where the soldiers are
painstakingly made new again 50 that
they may 60 back to the front, are in
f1nitely depressing.
But they cannot compare for sheer
horror with the great institution at
Dusseldorf and with DR.. Bruins prl-
vate clinic. where dozens and scores
OF men sit or lie with half OF their
faces left, with noses and upper teeth
missing, with hands enclosed in steel
framework that supports broken lower
jaws until newly inserted bones shall
have had time to knit
The Dusseldorf institution, Of which
DR.. Bruhn is the chief surgeon is de-
voted exclusively to the care Of SOL
diers who have been injured in the
jaws, and is far and away the largest
Of its kind in Germany. Weekly it is
turning out men who. aside from scars
and somewhat impeded speech, are
about as good az before the war. men
who a few weeks or months before
were brought In III such shocking
condition that the layman, IL he could
endure to gaze for long, would despair
Of ever saving them.
The patients frequently are found to
have rifle bullets imbedded In the
bones Of their jaws. bullets often that
have been fiattened out or twisted by
the compact Of lead against bone. More
serious are the shrapnel and grenade
wounds, which tear away whole Sec
tions Of the face and leave a jaw
fractured in a score Of places
Thru use Of the Roentgen ray, or
x-ray. the patients exact Injury is
established on his admission In a
majority Of cases there is some portion
OF bone missiDg-a portion that must
be replaced by bone from some part of
his body.
Each patient is his own bone supply.
so to speak, and generally 1t is the shin
bone that serves. The ribs also are q
fertile field, and, so fast does nature
work, the piece Of bone taken out for
use in the jaw is rapidly replaced by
new growth.
One patient in the hospital late in
April. slowly recovering from shock
ing wound that gouged out his whole
lower jaw, has a strip of shin bone
fourteen centimeters long in his
mouth. On top Of that is a new set
Of serviceable teeth. The man is
healthy and reasonably happy.
y In dozens of cases it is not only
necessary to replace bone, but skin as
well. Here again each man must sup
ply his own. Great strips of skin are
taken from the patients arms and
grated onto cheeks or chfns. Aside
from the scar along the line of stitch
ing there Is usually little indication Of
the original injury.
Each man Is photographed on the
day Of arrival, and then at intervals
later, as his recovery progresses. To
the layman the results accomplished
are little short Of miraculous.
In a recent trip thru the hospital an
Associated Press correspondent had OPP
portunity to compare many of the or
iginal photographs with the patients in
their patched up state. and 1t was all
but Incredible that 30 much had been
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