The sun., 1918-07-14

/ n he marched with the Fighting
Fifth Massachusetts to the civil war in
1861, DR.. William W. Keen, famous sur
geon, instructor and author, has Just COM
pleted war work that promises invalu-
= able service to our boys over there. This
task is the revision of his book, THE
Treatment of War Wounds" and the vol
ume now represents the last word in war
surgery.
Many thousands of parents of our
fighting men may take heart that their
loved ones will get the best scientific care
because of this book. Hundreds Of Reg
ular Army and navy surgeons may use
DR.. keen's work to bring themselves up
to date. Other thousands of civilian
physicians and surgeons just entering on
war work-and the treatment of battle
injuries is wholly distinct from lay prac-
tice-may CLEAN the most valuable hints
on technique in field that is constantly
developed by unlimited experience.
Thus the self-appointed "bit" done by
Major Keen, Medical Reserve Corps,
L. S. A, 81 years old and so not on active
duty, promises to be even more valuable
to the struggling hosts than any actual
work his skilled hands might perform in
base hospital or convalescent ward.
A lifetime devoted to alienation of
human misery and suffering is bearing
fruit most gloriously. For no one with
less prestige in his profession than DR..
Keen ever could have assembled from
busy war surgeons and scientists the facts
embodied in his book. Men like DR..
Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Insti-
tute, Sir Anthony A. Bowlby of British
General Headquarters in France, Major
Harvey Gushing, brain specialist; DR..
William S. Halsted of Johns Hopkins,
Dr. W. T. Porter of Harvard and host
of others almost as noted have little time
now for putting on paper the results of
their war work.
But to DR.. Keen, beloved by all Of
them and alert to pick from their notes
the best and newest in war surgery, they
have written detailed letters, answered
questions of vital import and turned over
the observations Of their staffs. From
this maze of priceless material DR.. Keen
has perfected book that stands alone,
SO broad is its outline, SO authoritative
are its facts.
Aside from the technical "The Treat
ment Of War Wounds" contains many
passages of supreme interest to the every
day reader. The authors tribute to his
informants itself is classic and breathes
of the value Of the book. DR.. Keen says =
Ny hearty thanks are rendered to them,
especially to those who have taken time
in their overworked lives to furnish this
: valuable information. Theirs is indeed
first hand knowledge. In few pregnant
sentences they express convictions which
are the result of hard and sometimes bit
ter experiences Of months and even years
Of warfare.
Many hopeful passages occur through
out, one of the striking ones reading:
~ should also call attention to one
strange means OF preventing wounds,
which, though neither surgical nor medical,
yet is of great practical value. We are ap-
parently returning to the use of steel
armor as in the Middle Ages. Light
steel helmets and TO some extent corselets
have undoubtedly lessened to very ap-
probable extent wounds of the head and
the thoraeic viscera. Surgeons at the
front testify to o marked diminution of
wounds of the head since the introduction
of steel helmets"
In the chapter on New Weapons" DR..
Keen quotes Dr. George W. Grille, the
great Cleveland surgeon, now a Major:
"There is o new secondary missile-mud.
A high explosive shell would dive into
the mud and throw the mud with such
tremendous velocity that it would actu-
ally cause penetration of the skin, and
through that hole vast amount Of mud
would be forced. producing a very bad