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


| the tibia in the mans jaw might grow
in the straight line of a tibia instead
of in the curve of jaw. but the sur
geon admitting the possibility, was dis.
posed TO think that the counter pres.
! sure of the real jaw bones would re.
strain any such excuses on the part OIL
! the alien tibia.
| In this hospital there was a good ex.
ample of German surgery. youngI
guarlsman, now an exchanged PRISON.
! err. had the misfortune to be wounded
! and captured in the first half hour of
| the British appearance on the Frenchl
! front. The German surgeons had re-
moved his foot, but in such a way as
to leave him his heel, of which he Is
proud. exhibiting it and Shaping III
with glee. and proclaiming that he CAM
walk on it with the aid of a stick. He
will be given an artificial foot In due
time, and 1t will never be noticed that
he has been mutilated.
| Not long ago a wounded guardsman
was brought into the Queen Alexandra
(
shrapnel wound. Examination under
the X-rays showed that piece OF
metal as large as halfpenny ana
much thicker had entered the breast
and lodged in the region Of the heart
1t was, in fact, actually touching the
heart and impeding it's action. An op'
Grafton was decided on, and the sur
geon thrust his hand right into the OPP
ening and pulled out the piece Of met.
al. which is preserved as a souvenir
There was a danger that during anaes.
thesia the lungs might collapse, and
therefore, ether was pumped into them
TO keep them distended. That gallant
guardsman is now out and about, and
| it is declared that he will not feel the
| slightest ill effects from his stranse
| experience. The surgeon who performed
the operation is an Australian, Major
Scott Skirving.
| In the Royal Army Medical College
there are enough serums to kill all TIL
armies of Europe. From this one IN.
stitution all the millions of soldiers OF
the British Empire have been inocu7
lated against typhoid and its varieties
-inoculated from the remote descend
ants of a bacillus captured and bottled
IS years ago. Here the cholera Of the
East and the meningitis of all climes
are being fought and conquered.
In very large number Of cases q
broken bone is carefully joined by
means of the steel splint, which Isl
screwed to the bone just as a carpen-l
ter screws two pieces Of wood together.
The steel plate, which is sometimes
about an inch wide and four or five
inches long, remains permanently in
the wound. together with the steel
screws, 1hnd the patient suffers no in
convenience in consequence. 1t Is the
opinion of Colonel Pilcer. who has per-
formed many of these operations, that
in time the steal would become, as it
We're, dissipated in the system and dis
appear altogether. AS iron Is one OF
the constituents of the blood, the splint
does not constitute a source OF danger
Some notable cases of the kind have
also occurred at the Herbert Hospital
at Shooters Hill.
Some of the most valuable surgical
work is being done without using the
knife In hundreds Of instances the
muscles of lindsay those of the en-
tire leg below the knee-become afro
phied by disuse following an injury al
some higher point. They are so en-
tirely lacking in tone when the oppor-
tunity for use recurs that they cannot
even start on the road to recovery. and
threaten to become permanently value
less. A nurse bends over each man; she
applies at regular intervals of rev
seconds a small pad, connected by
wires with an electrical apparatus 10
the chief muscles Of leg or arm. Al
eacn application one may see the at
rophied muscles tighten and the foot or
hand rise for about an inch from the
bed--movements entirely automatic
the patient in each case unable to i'm
part the slightest motion to the ex-
tremity. Under this gentle system OF
training the muscles slowly regain
their tone until the man can take ex'
ercise in the deliberately fitted hospital
gym"
These gyms" are highly ingenious
pitceS, tEey prONlOe essence OF eAeioAso
in all sorts of familiar and less familiar
forms. You find one man riding OIL
cycle that never gets any further; an
other doing something that looks ike
sculling though there is no boat and
no water and a third playing with
kind of Indian club fixed tantalizing
to a pivot.
One Of the first points a visitor Is
bound to notice at British military hos
pitfalls is the small number Of cases OF
major operations. in particular of am
putations. Modern surgery is first and
foremost conservative" Its aim is to
mend the whole body rather than to
prune it of it's injured parts. If am
putation is unavoidable it Is generally
performed at one of the hospitals near
the front, and the wounded man who
gets as far as a London hospital with
out losing limb may generally count
on keeping it. So far is this true that
out OF 3.4oO recent operations at one Of
the biggest institutions only Is are de.
scrihed as ''maJor."-Boston Tran.
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