Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-09-14
WOUNDED LIMBS
ARE RE-EDUCATED
IN THE HOSPITALS
Wonderful Results Achieved
By Surgeons Of Allied
Armies

London, Aug. F,-(By Mail)-Fhe
war uneaged demons of destruction here
tofore unknown to warfare.
To combat them sut ,ery, has morgan
lied its technique
Great aas been the development of
wars power to Je4a, down, greater hy
far is the progress of science in the
work of rebuilding A concrete proof
Of this is shown ii tSs record of the
huge Military 0rthcpedle hospital here
with which tie Amcrieaa ke,l CIoss
orthopedie hospitals in London are al
lied. Three-fomihs OF the patients in
these institutions arc being made fit
to re-enter the Amy in some Germ of
service.
The remarkable achievements of sur
gerry have been no more striking that
the results obtained by the slow, pa
tient processes of orthopedie treatment.
! In fact, the latter has made gains even
more spectacular than those of surgery.
for orthopedic science, which before the
war, was a more or less obscure and
humble little brother to surgery, has
grown almost overnight to full stature.
Began With Children.
The word orthopedie literally means
making alittle child straight. The scien-
ce began with the treatment of child
rem 3 deformittes. Now it is applied
to restoring to use soldiers arms and
! legs which have been stiffened OF dis
torted by wounds, accident or disease.
The problem of the war cripple is met
first by ingenious surgery and manipu-
lation and the careful education Of men
! in the use of the disabled limbs; second
by training disabled soldiers in the
trade for which their disablement least
handicaps them. The halfway station
between the two is the gymnasium. !"
! As the visitor follows the officer di-
rector into the military orthopedic hos
pital he sees a score of soldiers seated
on benches. A sergeant at desk in
the far corner rises as the director ap-
proaehes. GAN ready, sir" he reports.
The director turns to the men with d
brisk, "Carry onl"
/ Slowly the men move out into the
!, room and take their places before the
/ various pieces of apparatus. Some go up
/ to the big adjustible horizontal beams
: which stretch across the room and
! place their hands on a beam about
shoulder high. One approaches a long
strip Of canvas with broad stripes run
ming from end to end. A pale boy
stretches out on q mat-cOvered bench
and, motionless, stares up at the ceiling.
The majority range themselves along
the walls at ladders, climbing ropes and
hand -grasps. No one speaks. Apparent
ly there is no movement. Absolute
quiet prevails.
1t is strange sight for the visitor.
A gym to him has meant place for
vigorous exercise and noisy games.
Here everyone seems to be perfectly
motionless except the soldier on the
striped canvae, who with great effort
and infinite caution is attempting to
move along one of the black lines. He
is trying to teach a she'll shattered foot
to walk again.
'lle visitor was taken by an American
fanny surgeon into the massage and -
ectric-treatmcnt room, a spacious ward
where a dozen or more soldiers were
sitting quietly while nurses massaged
and worked over their injuries. The
young women, kindly sympathetic, smil-
ed always and talked encouragingly to
the patients. Psychology of encourage
ment is well understood and carried out
in this hospital.
In this hospital each patient s case is
carefully studied and general plan of