The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1915-10-01
A LETTER FROM FRANCE.
Or. Fred Collier, a Brookinos Graduate,
in British Medical Corps.

Or. Fred Collier. a Bookings Graduate,
in British Medical Corps.
Bookings, S. D., Register: DR..
Fred Collier, formerly Of this city, and
a graduate of the state college, class of
'O6, writes his former instructor in
chemistry, Prof. James H. Shepard, a
very interesting letter:
August 10, 1915.-Dear Professor:
You perhaps may be interested in
hearing a few first hand remarks on
the situation here in Europe, although
we are not allowed to say much, and
IN case we do the letters never reach
their destination.
have left the American ambulance
In Paris and since July ! have been
with the British expeditionary force in
northern France, a member of a vol
untary unit of the royal army medical
corps. Have the rank Of captain and
have charge OF a number of wards OF
surgical cases. 1t is different in many
ways from our experience in Paris, as
we are much nearer the font and con-
sequently we get the cases very soon
after they are wounded, and we see
an enormous number of cases. as we
are in what is known as a receiving
and evacuating hospital and do not
keep the cases for any length of time,
but send them back to base hospitals.
Most of the wounds are treated first
in the trenches with the first aid pack
age. then are moved to the dressing
stations, which are still in the mi OF
fire. From here they are carried in
ambulances directly to the hospital
train or to a distributing hospital and
from there to the hospitals like ours
and from there to the base.
The wounds we get now are mostly
caused by the high explosive shell-a
much smaller percentage by rifle and
rapid fire guns-and. as is natural in
this underground warfare, there are
many hand grenade and aerial torpedo
wounds. All of the wounds are badly
infected and the asceptic first aid pack
age has proven of little worth in this
war. The severe character of the in
fections may be explained by the un-
foreground character of the fighting
every man is covered with dirt when
hit and the dirt is carried into the
wound. The soil in France and Bel
GUM, too. has been cultivated so long
aId so intensively that it's bacteria
content is naturally high-the bacte-
riology of our wounds are similar to
that of the soil, and in this fact it diff
fers entirely from the surgery of any
of the other modern wars. However,
the changed conditions have been met
and the mortality is comparatively low.
Deaths from tetanus are very rare and
this Is due to the fact that every man
as soon as wounded gets a prophylac-
tic dose Of antitetanic serum. and va
rious new things are being developed
that will effectually combat the other
infectious agents. The sanitation OF
the camps and even trenches has been
admirable and there have Deer none
of those horrible epidemics of typhoid
or typhus that characterized u W
concentration camps in the Spanish
war. OF course. Serbia was nearly
wiped out by typhus, as you know, but
that is now under control and is nearly
extinct for the time being.
AS to the military situation, ! am
not qualified to speak about that and
could not write about it if l we're. The
allies seem prepared for any eventual
ity along this front and are in a much
better state than the newspapers gen
orally give them credit for. The sys-
tenn OF p%urveying and transport is mar
velous and if the same efforts were put
forth in peace would be called a mar
vel of efficiency. Everything is done
in motors-big American trucks are
seen by the hundreds or every road.
/ have a profound admiration for
both the French and English soldiers,
and although they differ widely in GER
tain personal characteristics they are
alike in their bravery and dash. The
French are entirely different from n
preconceived idea of them and the way
the French nation met this tremen-
dous crisis is beyond all praise. They
are uuiet-nOt Enthusiastically de-
termined. and every man, woman and
child is making every sacrifice for the
common cause. There is not a person
in France who is not in some way
working for the war, and | do not see
how a nation like this can be defeated.
England has not yet exerted all her
energy. but is rapidly doing so. They
were not a military nation-except for
their navy-but will get there in time.
Their are marvellous and
they are richer than our own country.
much to my surprise. l believe this is
going to be one Of the deciding fac
tors in the Anal result.
When the war will end l do not
know and no one owe here will ever
hazard a guess. Not now at any rate.
Believe In Big Loan.
Aberdeen.-J. G. Bassett. South Da-
kota member of the federal reserve