The sun., 1915-11-15
THE WOUNDED IN THE WAR.
Light Upon Mr.. Asquith's British
Death Rate Of - Per Cent.

or practically Onc-fOurtn, OF tho Noulu'u
British soldiers die as an unavoidabie
result of their wounds. The idea is fur
thcr developed to the effect that this
terrible mortality IL largely due To the
Increased use Of artillery, resulting IN
frightful wounds. which are almost al
ways infected, aud which the surgeons
are unable 10 handle successfully. Thh
statement has been So often made and
has gone SO long umcon ntradictcd that II
appears TO he accepted as a settled fact.
Nevertheless. the statement that one
fourth the English wounded die is en-
tirely erroneous.
In the wars OF the Middle Ages, when
armies were entirely without n sanitary
service OF any kind, 1t IL probable that
nearly all tn" seriously wounded 'one-
! third as n rulc) died. While there are
no statistics Of those armies, there are
excellent reasons for believing that 80 l-3
| per cent. of tn" wounded persisted In
recent wars tho death rate Of the
wounded has declined greatly. In the
| Crimcan war; the worst VI recent times
| from "a sanitary standpoint, 10 per cent.
| OF the English wounded died and -
| per cent. OF the Russian. or the French
! wounded possibly 81 per cent. died hut
/ rot of -htir wounds they died of every
| thing from frost bite to typhus. In our
| own civil war l4s per cont Of tho
! war IL per cent. of tho German wounded
persisted. In the spanish american war
| less than y per cent. of our wounded
| died and in the Mhnchurlan campaigns
| the death rate Uf the wounded was about
| per cent.
IL will be seen that there has been n
! gradual decline In the percentage o;
/ deaths from wounds, due, without doubt.
! 10 the great advances IN medicine and
/ surgery OF tho past half century and
/ their application 10 the care of armies.
/ Now. /. the deaths among the wounded,
| which had declined from 30 per cent.
! to about per cent. should suddenly
| jump to - per cent. again, II would be
| a surprising phenomenon and con-
summation that would render many %.
| the boasted claims of sanitary science
| vain. And no explanation OF shell fire,
Intrsnchments or more malignant In
| fect!ons could d Ssipate tho feeling TIA;
| science had failed.
But science has not failed. I, may bs
stated with the utmost confidence that
- per cent. OF the British wounded have
| not dled. While the exact figures hay"
| not been given out. the death rate j.
almost certainly not more than . per
cent. possibly not that much Why
then, did Mr. Asduith make tho state
ment? The reason $ that by the tern
wounded he meant To- convey quite !
different idea from that which we ar,
| accustomed 20 associate with that word
The term "NouHdcd" has two meanings
First. there Is the strict. logical mean
ing. very seldom used, which Includes
all those hi; hv weapon or missile Ever
man hit il of course wounded. In tn.
sense the term includes all battle oasu
! alties. all those who are wounded. Som'
of these die soon. some later.
/, There IL n second meaning ~ 'he wore
"woundcd" and a meaning made com
mon by long and widespread usage. !
is the meaning used lay most /: not a.
writer's on military statistics. With tn
meaning the word or term includes onl'
, those who ar. hit and live long cnouC'
to be picked up and carried to a hosp
tai AL tnuse hit are divided into tw'
Categor.cs, the 'killei" and wounded
The class KILLED" is made up oc thos
, 50 seriously injured 0s 10 die on IN
held The class ''Wouuded" includes al
the remainder who reach hospitals, .
these some also die. These We classlt
under "dicI % wounds"
II Will be seen that there arr man
opportunities for a confusion of term
: IN tn. use ~ this word wounded" Wit
the two meanings. Mr.. Asquith. pos
bly, not very familiar with medico-ml!
. tary statistics and terms, used the nor
with the iigst meaning. WAcn he "a.
. that "a per cen. of the wounded die
4 he meant - convey tho informal on tina
= - per cent. of al those hit in blttl
died either IN tho field or later In hos
ptal. In his classification or woundc
are included the class "kilcd" ,son,
II per cent? and the class died Z
: wounds ,sonc per cent?, When /
speaks ot those dying OF wounds ne II
ciudcs all who die on the teld or in hos
f.tal. When We speak ot thoss dy!n
Of wounds We restrict the term 10 thos
dying in hospital.
And there is good reason 'or tn
use OF the term. Those dying on II
field nave ror thA most par. receive
wounds thai are neccss ri,y fatal
=. for tho others the surgeons have =
u opportunity ~ STAY the hand Of deaf
= Those who reach the hospitals are
y "A rule not so desperately wounded M
the surgeons have at least an oppo
y tun!ty 20 exercise their skill IN attemp
g - save them. The measure OF the eh
Y cheney OF the sanitary stan and OF {,
v state OF sanitary science in general
- not -he whole number OF deaths fro
battle wounds, hut the pcrrc n'.lge
o deaths among those VINO reach hospital
a II - per cent. die quickly on the ie
V Il cannot he avoided q % per cant
n those who reach hospitals die II Is
l. matter OF grave concern. for We ,a'
cent. Of these should die. II a;r~ar
= then. that Mr. Asquith was correct in h
y. statement az he undentood tho ter
"A "wounded" but owing to the fact tn!
~ the world IN general has become acru
= toned 70 another definition OF the teri
~ he has conveyed an erroneous idea,
~ II IS further reported that Mr.. A
10 quith made the statement tHat the pc
.. ccntage OF deaths among the wound
T. s now greater than In other rece
Is wars This Ia wholly erroneous IN wha
ever sense Il may have been !ntende
n whether referring TO the whole numb
~ OF deaths or 90 those dying IN hosrit;
o. fallacy OF such n statement. In Il
n table the flrst column gives tho total
Nv battle casualties (except the n!sS!n,
- both killed and wounded. The eccol
. gives the percentage OF those hit who q
~ "klled." Tho third column gives I
'' percentag~ OF tho hit who dio in hosl
W tails. These We class as died
- wounds" Tho last column gives I
"a sum of the second and third this
IN Mr. Asruith's class died of wound'
H. 1t Ia the sum of those killed and tho
VI. who die OF wou unds all deaths RESULT
ld from battle injuries:
al Peninsulsr war;. 23.7S0 10 IL 8
81 Crtmean war. b.. lt.%sO 10 rs 3
civil war, U.,......ss7o0o Is ~ 2
ba Franco o-Gorman. q. .il7,ooo L. .
- Anglo Bocr. E...,., 2s,T00 - =
-, Russo Japanese R,,l7l.ooo Is 3s !
-, Russo Japanese, j.. 80, 900 81 s .
- Present war Brit .33G,945 s?c s3S I.