The Cordova daily times., 1917-01-06
SURGICAL WORK ADVANCED BY
 THE WAR

have been the surgical achievements In the course of the present war, there has as yet been no single discover, that has rivalled Dr. Alexis Carrel'. method of the treatment of septic wounds as the most notable addition to surgical science, according to a sen for surgeon of the American ambu lance hospital at Neuilly, near Paris who has just returned to this country The French hospitals are slowl, adopting the Carrel method" he said and in the American ambulance hos pftal we have been using it for several months with gratifying results which seem to show that Dr. Carrel has proved his thesis.
 The reduction of septic wound treatment to an almost mathematical basis is feature of the CarreI method that suggests the fanciful thought of the possibility that the day may come when a surgeons work will in some respects be like that of train dis. patcher. Having brought to him from day to day the microscopic count of the germs in given wound, the sur geon may perhaps figure with precise, ness the day on which the wound will be in shape to close completely. The two-hourly irrigation of the wound by the Dakin or other solution, is a high, ly important feature of the Carrel method, but the most interesting fac. tor is the daily microscopic count of the germs. These germs are taken from given areas of the wound, placed under microscope and counted, and from this count the progress of the healing is gauged. There are per haps less germs today than yesterday, so many less tomorrow: and so the rate of the diminishing suppuration is established. The surgeon. almost without looking at the wound, can de, termine when the count gets down to a given number that it is safe to close 1t.
 The American ambulance hospital is the best single thing which Ameri- ca can do for France" he said. The hospital has been at all times since its establishment. two years ago, one Of the best hospitals in the world; it enjoys the confidence of the French sanitary service to such degree that 1t ordinarily receives only the most difficult cases The most severe shell wounds are constantly encountered. There are scores of young American surgeons who. from time to time serv- ing at the hospital, have become Ia miliar with these phases of surgery. They may rarely have occasion to use this knowledge in their ordinary ci- william practice at home, but should the United States be at war within the next generation it will find that many of it's surgeons in civilian practice are acquainted with every sort of wound now known in warfare, At the hospital, further, there has been con stant cooperation between the sur geons and dentists An ordinary op. eratiOn is that of grating bones cut from the tibia or shin bone into the lower jaw. I have seen young sol diers so frightfully wounded in the face that had they been my sons | should have almost preferred they should have died, but 1t is not for the surgeons to let the spark of life be eXtinguished through neglect of surgical science.
 The appreciation, gratitude and en- tire simplicity of the wounded French soldier is something that gets one absolutely. have never seen the slightest resemblance to anything that could be called brayadO in his make they cannot be kind enough to the sol. up. The American surgeons feel that they cannot be kind enough to the sol diers.
 All through France the efficiency of the American ambulance hospital has become known, and distinguished surgical men are daily visitors. They come not only from the French hos pitals, but from all of the allied and neutral countries, examining with par ticular interest the many forms of special apparatus which the Ameri- cans have developed for the manage ment of fractured extremities These devices have been originated and i'm proved upon largely by the younger members of our surgical staff. When a young surgeon comes to us from America for service at the hospital quest that he improve the apparatus and it is rarely that he fails to do SO It has been wonderful for the older men to see how readily and success fully the younger men have taken uI this work.
 There are probably 1.50O wounded soldiers under the American ambu lance surgeon at this moment There are 575 in the hospital at Neuilly, ana a thousand more in auxiliary hospi tals under our care. At Ueuilly tht entire hospital force, including thu orderlies and other attendants, mum hers some 300 men and women. Anon,