The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-10
DREAD DISEASES CAUSED BY WAR
 SPREAD HORROR
Trench Fever and Trench Nephritis' New and Baf-
 fling Illness.

The horrors of war have been aug l mented by two new diseases-"trench fever' and trench nephritis," the lat ter somewhat similar to Bright's dis 1 ease-according to g. report received at Harvard University from Dr. Hu- go Cabot, who is in charge of the Fourth Harvard Surgical Unit at the front e
 Both diseases are subject to inves- tigation by commissions appointed by the British Government.
 The Harvard unit, on account of lack of facilities, has been unable to do any satisfactory work on trench fever,' but interesting research was done upon the cause of trench nephr1- tis.
 'The result" Dr. Cabot states, "is ! such as to suggest that the cause may have been found. We may, I think, expect that a further study along the lines now laid down by us will give results"
 Eight thousand wounded and sick soldiers cared for and only nineteen died is the record of this unit during its three months of service at it's semi
 
 Dr. Cabot says.
 The contingent, consisting of 34 physicians and surgeons and 75 nurses was established last June at it's hos pital. which was principally under canvas, though several corrugated iron nuts" were available for the was just in time to share in the work nf rs{y IT. Somme region, which necessitated an increase of beds in the hospital from 1,340 to 2,3S0.
 Many More Wounded Than Sick. "A most striking percentage of modern warfare" says the doctor. 'is the high percentage of wounded as compared with sick. In most for mer wars the proportion of sick to wounded has been at least four or five to one, whereas during the sum-
 ner in this war the prdportion of sick to wounded is one to ffve-six, and in the winter one to one and one-half."
 Speaking of the character of the wounds, the doctor says: Rifle and machine gun bullets, on account of their steel jackets and high velocity, cause relatively clean wounds, and the same is true of shrapnel. Inter estingly enough, during the early part of July. at the beginning of the 'Somme drive we had large pro- portion of machine gun bullets, due to the fact that the Geran trenches were at least partially intact; were still in three we'll developed lines so arranged that one segment would enfilade the other. Thus section of a regiment having entered a second line German trench on the 9th of July was literal ly wiped out by an enfilading machine gun fired from both sides. Later, after the three lines of permanent treinches had been plotted out by the extraordinarily accurate fire of the British heavy artillery fire of the Brit ish heavy artillery, most of the wounds were produced by fragments of high explosive shells and bombs, and were therefore ragged tearing injuries, removing two or three inch es of the great bones of the thigh or lower leg and producing most hid- eous wounds.
 Steel Helmets Save Many.
 "The universal use of steel helmets has much reduced the importance of wounds in the head. Though not an absolute protection, they either defect the course of the projectile so as to produce only a stunning injury, or break the force of the blow with the production of a badly bruised or devitalized wound, but often without penetrating the skull
 "Of abdominal wounds we saw nothing in their early stages. since, if fn 1,o dealt with, they must be operated up- on within six hours. Special hos pitals for the purpose have been es- tablished immediately behind the fir ing line. During the first year of the war these injuries were almost uni- versally fatal. To-day between 40 and 50 per cent. of the cases operated upon recover.
 A most important part of the work of the unit has concerned itself with the management of the dreadful wounds of the face involving mouth and jaws. This department is un- der the management of Dr. Kazanjian. whose work has been of such a high order that all cases of this kind in the whole area are placed under his care. In this department probably
 more than any other, the Harvard unit has contributed to the efficiency of the Royal, Army Medical Corps.
 Nearly All Wounds Infected.
 Practically all wounds are infect ed, but the most serious and impor- tant of these infections is the so-caIl- ed gas gatngrene, caused by a gas producing bacillus. From 80 to 90 per cent. of the wounds are infected with this organism, in which, in rap- Idly developing cases, the tissues about the wound crackle under the fingers on account of the minute col lectlons of gas under the skin. More important, however, are the collec- t1ons of gas deep in the tissue, where 1t spreads rapidly to the, soft parts, literally melting away in this neigh borhood and thus producing the most