Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-10-25
.AER0S BOMBARDED
OTTAWA DOCTOR At.
WORK IN HOSPITAL
LIEUT.. PETIT UNDER GERMAN
FIRE WHILE TRYING TO SAVE
ENGLISH TONNES llFE-AN-
OTHER LETTER FROM BATTLE
FRONTS.

was singled out by German fliers as
a suitable spot for a raid. accordinl
to his latest letter from France. In
his communication to his parents. Dr
and Mrs. j. w. Petit. the Ottawa
lieutenant who is assigned to a Brit
ish corps of needles, describes his ex.
pcriences very graphically The Ger,
man killers saw fit to make the BON
bardment just at the time DR.. Petit,
was busily engaged saving the life OF
an English Tommy.
His work in transmission of blood
under American training and "A natural
ability along those lines, is attracting
a deal of interest from the English
doctors, who closely follow his sys.
tenn and give him large audience
during each test. The letter:
Sept &c. 1917.
Dear Father.
This last week received a pack.
age OF mail that has been following
me all summer, ever since left
Washington and there were several
letters from you.
am now located at casualty
plnn ptp Of q nd he. 4,
very much. as 1t is the place where
the most important work in the
whole medical organization is done.
A wounded man is brought into the
reeimen,al aid post by stretcher-
bearers front the field Here first
aid dressings and splints are ap.
piled He is Immediately carried,
wheeled, or taken in horse or motor
ambulance, depending upon the
character OF, the ground, to the ad
'vanced dressing station Here more
and better bandaging is done, and
then he goes down by motor ambu
lance to the main dressing station.
Here he is given tetanus antitoxin,
some surgery Is done, and he is sent
on to the casualty clearing station
This Is permanent hospital in
shacks and tents, and all of the ur-
gent surgery is done here. They
are then either sent Immediately, or
hospital trains Frequently a case
will reach the casualty clearing
station within two hours of his in
jury and practically all cases with
in four or five hours and cases fire.
quently reach the base within eight
hours of in Jury, and are in England
within twelve hours, The medical
service in the British army is very
efficient, and we can profit a great
deal by studying their methods
The past few days | have been
working In the operating room, and
have interested the commanding Of
licer very much by some results
have obtained with the TRANSMISSION
of blood ! find my old experimental
work of five or six years back (you
remember how interested was in
blood TRANSMISSION at that time) Is
proving very valuable now. am
sure ii has saved the lives of sew
eral cases, andt he whole staff seem
quite interested; at least. had quite
an audience last night when | was
doing one. We had case in which
the pulse was hardly perceptibe
He had been shot thru the leg and
had almost bled to death We put
pint of blood from another soldier
into him, his pulse picked up, his
color came back. and he regained
consciousness He had comfort
able night and amputation of the
lower leg was performed without
any trouble, this morning. If it had
not been done last night he would
almost surely have died.
While we had this case still or
the table lats night we were raidet
by German aeroplanes and 1t was
certainly exciting for about an hour
but no one was hurt A piece O
shell went thru the roof of one o.
the pavilions, but didn't hit any
body, and another lit in the roat
T opposite us. These bombs make
terrific noise when they strike ant
p together with the racket of tn,
Arches" or anti.aircraft guns. tn,
, noise is deafening. II was funn,
q to see everyone in the operating
!. room scramble The operating room
!. is about. seventy feet long and /
fitted up with eight operating tables
). During the rush these eight table
u.a untnp mint and 1uv L., All,