South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-08-31
BRITISH SURGEON
DESCRIBES WORK
Full Equipment Carried to
Perform Operations in
Emergency Cases.

LONDON. Aug 81. 49, graphic
account of war as an army surgeon
sees il is given i'm a series of articles
by Capt. Robert Y. Dolbey. sur
geon from British Columbia who en-
listed in the British medical corps
early in the war. Describing a sharp
bit of fighting on the British front
in France. he says
All day long the machine guns
hammered and shrapnel swept that
unhappy regiment. BY evening they
had 400 casualties, including Is Off
GERS. So light was the field of fire
the brewery behind them was
ablaze-that the doctor could not
get TO all his wounded, and they lay
out that night. When morning broke
and the fire died down only the
slightly wounded we're alive: the
cold rain and exposure effectually
robbed the rest of their chance OF
life
Night Exposure Fatal.
Here then, was an instance Of
the value of warmth. tea, and
sheltered dressing station. OF one
thing one can be certain, that
severely wounded men will not
stand the exposure of night on the
field and survive. Wounds associated
with much shock. compound frac-
ture of the hip and shoulder joints,
and fracture of the thigh. chest
wounds. will often do quite wei,
and rapidly recover from the initial
IA
and morphia given"
Here is his description of a busy
night in his field dressing station:
Very busy were we in that little
house, so wounded for morphia and
dressings. They were most grateful
for the warmth, for wounded men
suffer acutely from shock. they are
so cold. so sweathy and so thirsty.
When the morphia acts and the tea
and the inevitable cigaret, that in
comparable sedative for shaken
nerves, arrive, the whole aspect Of
dressing station alters Unless a man
is wounded desperately he soon be
comes quite cheerful and very talk
ative. Morphia stills the pain with
out having a great narcotic effect in
times Of excitement like this"
Work of Army Surgeon.
DR.. Dolbey gives the following
account of the work Of an army
surgeon:
How does regimental medical
officer do his work and what is his
equipment? This / was curious to
know: for / had not been a surgeon
TO a battalion i'm the field for Is
years.
THE doctor to each regiment is
now provided with a light, two
wheeled Maltese cart that carries
the medical and surgical panniers.
These contain a comprehensive Sc
lection of medical and surgical in
struments. medicines. condensed
milk. and beef extract; all as COM
plete as il is compact. Lacking only
rubber gloves and sterilisable sur
gical gowns. there is hardly an OPP
Grafton of an urgent character that
an adaptable surgeon cannot do in
an emergency. Given a house. a
stove. and a regimental doctor
equipment his trained non-commis-
stoned officers and he will have all
the essentials Of a temporary hos
pitai."
His first experience with the
work of the German snipers is thus
described:
The Germany snipers were post
ed Up the trees i'm the rising ground
on the right flank and took a steady
toll Of our men; it was they who got
Amos in the open. and Pennyman
serving his machine gun. one felt
that one was very glad to be so close
up and to he so helpful. and Vet one
felt so strangely helpless. There was
so much to he done and so many
for whom surgery could do so lit
tle-the abdominal cases that died
so soon: the brain cases that took
so long TO die. And of all the dread
ful wounds in war the decorating
brain wound is the most harrow
ing: restless. noisy. delirious. the
unhappy victims struggle with the
men who would restrain them. bah
bling of private matters of domestic
things. CRYING for water and vet
splitting it out when brought Nor
phia is useless. chlorofOrm alone
prevails 10 still that brain 20 sleep.
for an hour or two until the NOR
phil acts. Sut we We're never short
of morphia or Of chloroform: for
that We can be grateful"