Evening star., 1918-02-24

After his recital of these events the
surgeon took an X-ray picture of Pri.
vate K This showed no skull fracture,
which the surgeon had expected to see,
but under the old head wound were
small pieces OF shell and many frag-
ments of bone. These, however, seemed
not to bother him at all. Private X
was retained for a while. it was
thought he might develop symptoms
of future trouble But he grew SO
much better and appeared SO perfectly
normal in every way that he was final
ly sent home.
Still another soldier was put under
the N-ray after suffering from what is
known a gutter wound in the head.
The helmet he was wearing when
struck mad not served to protect him
wholly from injury. Upon his arrival
1t the hospital he declared himself
'f1t." and he was alert and Intelligent,
though il was observed that he suffered
slightly from aphasia. Two days later
he had epileptic attacks, these seizures
following each other closely. Tho
X-ray failed to show a fractured skull,
which the surgeons thought must be at
he seat of the patients trouble. An
operation was performed the same day.
skin-deep, but near one temporal lobe
a cavity was found filed with badly
bruised brain substance. This was inn
n'ed!ateiy cleaned ard subsequently
drained For short time the patient
was exceedingly i'll. but he recovered
fully. This ca Sc was called a whipping"
OF the temporal bone. No fracture was
present. though the brain beneath was
serereIy injured.
\ rife bullet penetrated the brain of
one man. going in one side of the head
and coming out tie other This hap
pened in spite of the fact that he wore
d heavy steel helmet. The bullet is
thought 10 have tray the helmet.
For a short while after the man had
been struck he lay. unconscious. but
recovered sufficiently to make his way
somewhat unsteadily TO the dressing
station from where he had fallen IN
the trench. The two spots on his head
marking The entrance and exit of the
bulles. Were badly discolored. The
whole scalp had 4 queer look, as if it
Again the X-ray was used for the
surgeon believed il extremely probable
that bory spiinters had been driven
into the brain, which would have me-
cessitated n quick operation. But the
brain sppeared clean and quite free
from amy disturbing foreign matter
The patient complained of splitting
headaches and drowsiness, but in
weeks time he had SO remarkably i'm
proved that he was able to leave the
hospital.
Was picked up on no mans land. He
had lain there helplessly for three en-
tire days before he was found. He was
suffering from brain gravaly infected
From the moment he reached the hos
pital he had the most careful atten-
tion. After the operation it was neces-
sary to place drain in the injured
brain 1t is probable that this patient
died for help had been SO tardy in
reaching him. Dat Of nineteen cases OF
similar character ten died large
percentage and one which the medical
staff is valiantly and successfully
striving to reduce
An English Tommy who was brought
to hospital for medical aid was found
to have four head wounds. These
proved to be only scalp wounds and
wera-too small to be thought serious.
They were scrupulously cleaned. and.
though the man appeared to be well
and continually declared himself "in
the pink he was sternly forbidden to
leave his bed.
Five days after his entrance to the
hospital, to every ones dismay, he had
an attack of epilepsy Upon recovery
he complained of a serious weakness in
his right arm Shortly afterward he
had other seizures, which resulted in
complete paralysis. Only a very few
hours elapsed before he was ON the
operating table. The following day he
was free from all signs of epileptic at
tacks. To his delight he found that
he could move his right arm and leg.
weak for some little time. However,
he regained gradually all his former
strength and quickness of movement
and returned to England happy.
thankful man indeed.