Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-07-04
Advisory Commission.
Marvels Performed By Surgeons in
France.

Marvels are being performed by the
surgeons attached to the various en-
tente armies. BY exercising their skill
they have restored to the fighting
strength Of the Allied nations each year
since the beginning Of the war, whole
divisions of men who in other wars
would have died OF their wounds or
would have been crippled for life.
The recent gigantic battles, as the
result OF which more wounded men
than ever before have received surgi-
cal treatment within a short space Of
time, have demonstrated the immense
strides made not only in surgery but
in the methods of removing the wound
ed from the battlefelds and trans
porting them TO hospitals. So ef-
fective is the cooperation between sur
geons and physicians at the front and
those at the hospitals in the rear that
an immensely larger proportion of the
wounded recover, than was the case at
the beginning of the war.
Men whose legs or rams have been
fractured by shells now are restored TO
their regiments in a minimum Of time.
This is due mostly to the fact that they
receive prompt antiseptic treatment
and surgical attention which prevents
blood-poisoning and the stffening of
articulation. Their recovery is rapid
in the hospitals behind the lines where
they can be treated under comfortable
conditions far from the nerve-racking
sound of the guns.
Soldiers have been inspired with
confidence in the army surgeons in the
great battles around Verdun and in the
great German offensive which began in
March.
Promptness in the treatment OF the
wounded men has been obtained by seq
regating them in classes according to
the nature of their wounds. This was
not generally done at the beginning OF
the war. The plan then in vogue was
to erect large hospitals as near the
fighting lines as possible, say ten or
twelve miles from the front, and to
send all cases there for treatment.
When big battles occurred these hos
pitals were over crowded and owing to
the delay in operating there were many
cases of gangrene, tetanus and other in
fections that resulted fatally.
The enemy did not hesitate TO bom-
bard the hospitals either with the ar
tillery or from aeroplanes. Some
times a train load OF wounded men
would arrive only to find all the beds
occupied and that they must move on
to another hospital
Most Of this difficulty now has been
overcome When wounded men reach
the first dressing station or field am
bulance they are divided into cate
gories. Those Slightly wounded are
rapidly dressed and sent TO GONZALES
cent hospitals. Those crippled are sent
to cripple depots. Men who have been
gassed go to special hospitals and those
most dangerously wounded are trans
ferred to hospitals nearby.
Those suffering from severe but not
dangerous wounds receive prompt treat
ment in the advanced ambulances
where operations are performed and
wounds disinfected before the men are
sent to permanent hospitals.
BY these divisions OF the wounded in
to classes, it is asserted, that great
rapidity of surgical intervention is
achieved as each specialist deals only
with cases needing his kind Of skill.
Then the patient is removed to the
hospital at a distance Of not more than
a journey of ten or twelve hours, where
he receives attention from another
specialist working in close cooperation
with his colleague in the advanced am
bulance.
This system of segregation OF wound
ed and cooperation OF doctors is said
to have produced marvellous results.