Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-10-04

eral of the British Army Medical SER
vice, permitted laymen to inspect the
home military hospitals Some of their
reports follow:
To the lay mind there is something
particularly surprising about an oper-
alton such as the following. which was
completely successful. A fragment OF
shell in the shoulder had severed the
main nerve controlling the muscles at
the back Of the wrist, which enabled
soldier to raise his right hand. For
certain reasons the usual operation IN
these cases, viz, the rejoining OF the
nerve ends. could not be undertaken
But the surgeon refused to be beaten.
Opening the front of the wrist Con the
palm side of the hand), he took six out
of the fourteen muscles to be found
here. brought them round to the back,
and connected them up with the USE
less muscles there. Thus six muscles
were available to raise the hand and
eight to lower it-a quite useful ar
rangement giving sufficient power for
any light task like writing.
80
desperate joint cases, and there one
learns all that there is to be known. of
claw hand" trench foot" and the in
Vulnerable limb deformities which are
caused by gunshot wounds. After thir-
teen months in other hospitals and six
months in this, q man suffering from
wasting of the muscles of the leg
through 4 shrapnel, wound has been
made by special treatment to walk as
he did before. Another man, with
trench foot deformity following FROST
bite. began to walk for the first time
. since last November after having been
here a month-the result of electrical
treatment and special splints.
Three inches of bone had been blown
away in a patients arm, and to restore
I this the surgeon went to the mans own
! leg and removed a piece of the fibula,
! leaving intact the incasing membrane,
! which threw up new bone, so that the
leg was none the worse. The removed
bone was sharpened at both ends and
dovetailed into the injured limb, which
has been completely restored.
One man who simply would not have
his foot amputated, though it seemed
to he doomed by several diseased bones,
considers that his obstinacy has been
justified by the result. The surgeons
have removed all the diseased bone and
brought together and rearraneed all
the healthy bone in the foot, SO that
the patient has perfectly sound foot,
which only lacks the usual joints and
the muscular wa liking action
At Wandsworth Common improvised
hospitals there ale 500 officers and 1900
men. Facial wounds especially are
dealt with here Lieutenant Derwent
Wood exercises his ingenuity as a
sculptor in patching up damaged faces
with copper masks painted hesh-color.
and, when necessary, with imitation
eyelashes and mustaches. There have
been some bad Disbursements, but
these arc. certainly minimized consider
ably by this method of masking the
face.
Members Of the ST. Dunstan organi-
Zation came to teach the unhappy blind
new occupations adapted to their con-
dition. Blindness in the war is not
caused 80 much by direct bullet or
shrarnel injury as by fragments of
stone thrown up from the ground or by
rebounding pieces of she'll and in many
tacles has been sufficient to save a man
from the loss of his eyes.
In hospital there is at the present
moment a Serbian officer who was
wounded in his own country and was
brought to England for treatment 1t
was case Of severe injury to the jaw
Lieutenant Sir Francis Farmer re-
moved piece of bone about two and a
half inches long from the tibia of the
patient, and. having carefully prepared
a bed in which to place it, fixed it in
the jaw. Already the patients leg has
healed up wonderfully we'll. The heal
Ing OF the jaw is a rather longer pro-
cess, but he can now eat much better
than he could, and it is hoped that
perfect cure will result. The Serbian
officer is now to all appearance well
and in good spirits.
Jaw cases-ununited fractures of the
Jaw. displacements Of the jaw and or
ganic jaw damage-are treated at the
Croydon Military Hospital. A man with
the whole Of his lower jaw shot away
was getting a metal jaw-an Iron
jaw indeed. A metal Cunning splint
is a continuance for bringing a dis
placed jaw back into position. AS the
surgeon says, it "educates" the teeth to
meet and when ones lower teeth have
got around to ones ear they demand
vast amount of education. At the
Queen Alexandra Hospital, Milbank.
there are also interesting Jaw cases
Here a Serbian officer who had lost
large piece of his lower jaw was. unlike
some men in similar cases, able to ar
ticulate distinctly and to eat naturally.
Even the Disagreement that necessar-
lily results more or less In these cases
is reduced to a minimum by cutting the
scars and then dilating them. In view
OF the fact that surgeons have been as
tonished by their recent experience of
the power Of bones in the body to re-
place by growth pieces which how.