The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-03

We are told that the modern rifle bull
let. pointed and of small calibre, is less
deadly. hut to one who has seen fighting
IN the open and compares IL with the
trench firing OF the present day this
idea seems fallacIous. II Ii true that
a. compared with the ploughed tracks
made bv the mimic ball. the small. smooth
track ~ the modern rifle bullet is lese
destructive to the surrounding tissues
but We must not fail to take account
Of the fact that moet of those who are
wounded by rife bullets to-day are struck
In the head and die. while the only
other exposed parts OF the body. the
arms ana shoulders. receive wounds that
are not 30 destructive 10 the tissues.
The modern rifle bullet Is indeed humane
because Il ends the~poor soldiers suffer-
Inc. but it's velocity and the modern
methods Of range finding make Il more
certainly fatal.
| have seen no account of bayonet
wounds probably lrc1uSe the modern
larger bayonct iniiicts an almost inn
mcdiately fatal wound. I happen TO
have been surgeon 81 "a regiment which
while firing from behind a rail pile re-
ceived a bayonet charge from the ad-
vance guard OF Grants army at Spott-
~sylcaniI Court House. None OF the
wounds was fatal. although two OF the
men were penetrated through the chest.
the point OF entrance and exit of the
bayonet being distinctly visible. In this
regard also our results were better.
one striking advantage that the mod
ern surgeon has over one who partici-
pdt'd ia tho civil wal IL the great aid
10 diagnosis furnished 10y the N-ray.
Well do | remember the sad necessity
II digltal examination OF all wounds,
which, as we realize now, wac more
fatal 10 the patient than the wound
Itself The satisfaction the modern sur
geon derives from the %-ray picture re-
l!eves him Of the greatest anxiety.
No BiR Medical Dtscov~ries.
There Is no epoch making discovery
To he recorded In the treatment Of
disease during the past year. Indeed.
some diseases were more scientifically
treated nifty years ago. when the So
called therapeutic nihilism governed the
advanced men of that day. much to the
chagrin OF their elders, who still BLEED
and blistered and salivatod their pneu-
mOnia patients. To-day polypharmaCy
Is again rampant.
1t IL true We are learning to utilize
the observations OF the army surgeons
of the early sos, who discovered that
a soldier suffering from or
other infectious disease did better In Il
tent or in the open air than in the fac
tories and other closed buildings COM
Wandered as hospitals but when ono
reads Of the multitude of new tangled
combinations Of proprietary drugs with
which these u~nfortunates are piled to-
day one wonders how the
patient ever scape l believe that the
mortality OF this disease Is greater to-
day than IL was under the management
Of our Austin Flint and Alonzo Clark
and their disciples, who gave mature a
fair chance to restore its integrity. In
the prevention OF disease. however, we
stan head and shoulders above the men
Of that period.
Typhoid fever. which decimated our
army during the civil war. has been shorn
OF It's malign influence by preventive In
oculation also cholera. tetanus, diph-
liberia and other diseases One shrlnks
with horror at thought OF the holo-
causts that would otherwise have been
added to the terrific toll now exacted
by s%hrapnel. dynamite and gas bombs.
one OF the marvellous discoveries OF
the present war Is the application of the
theory that typhus fever IL chiefly dis.
femilated by vermln infestlnS the
human body. When one reads OF the
splendid work lone by DIR. Strong, pro-
feSSOr OF tropical diseases In the IIar-
ward Medical School, and his conductors,
two of whom died in the noble effort of
cAt"rmiuatlng typhus fever from famine
stricken Serbia. ones heart CLOVIS with
satisfaction at tn" thought that the dis.
CpNcTy was mad. by American physi.
clans aud It's cnutrol accomplished by
American ph\ StpiauS