The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-08-15
Gas oanarene Now Conquered.

Gas gangrene, a frequent fatal
complication of bullet wounds in past
wars, has been minimized by the i'm
proved methods of the physicians.
The infection can be found by use OF
the X-ray and then the knife IS
used to lay bare the flesh and cut
out the diseased portions.
Occasionally an amputation is nee
essary, but very seldom, DR.. Leigh
ton stated. Anti-tetanic serum is
used to prevent lockjaw. Only on
two occasions during his long stay
in the hospital work did men die from
this complication. Each Of these
men died, he said, because of mis-
takes, the patients stating that they
had received the serum injections,
when other doctors had given hypo-
dermicS only.
ShrapneI Wounds Horrible.
Shrapnel wounds are among the
most horrible. Entire members are
torn away, leaving great raw, bleed
ing stumps, and often the arm or leg
when blown away, carries with II
large part of the body.
Yet man whose arm and should
er had been torn away, and who ap-
peared doomed to certain death IN
the first picture shown by DR.. Leigh
ton, in the second was shown per-
fectly healed, save for the loss OF
the arm Flesh had been grated ov-
er the great wound and in few
weeks time the man was able TO
leave the hospital.
Many other wonders of plastic sur
gerry were described by Captain
Leighton. Pictures of arms From
| which half the flesh had been torn
away, leaving bones and tendons ex-
posed in a mass of clotted blood anc
torn tissue, were shown. Bone shat
tered by puncturing bullets, faces ter
ribly mutiliated, and other wounds
that apparently were hopeless, were
/ cured, the speaker stated, and the
sufferers sent back to the trenches.
Explains Hospital System.
The wonderful machinery of saw
| ing life was explained by Captain
Leighton Near the trenches are
first-aid stations, usually dugoutS,
with room for about thirty stretchers.
From the first aid stations the
wounded are taken in ambulauces to
! the field hospitals. From the field
hospitals they are. carried by am
balances to the evacuation hospitals,
and thence to the base hospitals,
located forty or fifty miles from the
firing line.
Men who are sick are cared for i'll
the field hospitals, while those SER
iously wounded are always taken to
the basic hospitals. The men are
carried to the basic hospitals in
ambulance trains of fourteen cars
each, carrying $40 wounded. The
wounded are placed in stretchers,
which are placed in racks in the
cars,
But Few Die.
OF those taken to the base hos
pitfalls, seven per cent die, eight per
cent are incapacitated for further
service and ninety per cent recover
and are sent back to the trenches
OF those who die, most fail to recover
through complications, such as pneu-
monia or typhoid in a severe form.
Bright's disease is often a complied
ton from gas gangrene. Many OF
those who suffer spinal wounds re-
cover and can go back into the
trenches.
Captain Leighton went to France
with the Chicago hospital unit, or
ganized in June, 1915, by DR.. J. B.
Murphy, famous Chicago surgeon, at
the request of Sir Arbuthnot Lane,
eminent London surgeon. He was
on duty at Etaples, near Montreuil,
located about forty miles from the
firing line. He returned to America
in the spring Of 1916, just before the
gvaat Somme drive commenced. The
unit was disbanded in September,
1916, after the death Of DR.. Murphy.