Evening star., 1918-02-02

lof day coaches. with an extra car at
tached for hospital attendants and an
other for cooking.
lie VIII go TO a conva1escent hospital
situated probably at or near the At
iantic coast. There he will stay until
ne IS thoroughly well. Such a hospital
IS the Massachusetts General Hospital.
for instance Let US suppose that, un-
fortunately, the soldier has lost a leg
| or an arm or has been otherwise per-
manently disabled Then, and then
only, will he go back to the United
States.
No Conva1escents Discharged.
No slightly wounded. and no con-
Nalescents will be sent back home No
man who, when he recovers, may serve
again as soldier will be sent back
nome. Only man who can serve no
longer VIII go home. There are excel
rent reasons for this First and fore
most. as the Germans bomb hospitals
ana shell ambulances, so also do they
torpedo hospital ships. Second ship
tonnage is the most precious of all the
eiements that go to compose American
plenty of room on returning transports
10 send home on one of them a man
VINO later must return to France would
oe simply to neutralize his space on
some iater transport bound for France
by Keeping him here we save tonnage,
ana we avoid the risks of ocean travel,
not only by submarines. but by wealth.
er, an important item with a man late
ly wounded.
Therefore, there will be, properly
speaking, no American hospital ships
On each returning transport there will
pc. however, sick bay to accommo-
date from fifty to $50 patients, and a
medical officer will be aboard each re-
they need care.
NOW, II the soldier be blinded he will
get home as quickly as it is possible to
get MIN there. AS a matter of fact the
number of men blinded in war is not so
great as some suppose. Only one man
of every thousand or twelve hundred
wounded loses his sight Not one
American soldier has yet been blinded
oy wounds received in action. But
when there are American blind they
VIII get the tenderest care and will be
returned to the surroundings of home Is
quickly as may be. Medical officers are
convinced that this factor, an early re-
turn home, is especially important with
the blind
Re-Education of Blind.
AS soon as he can be moved, the
sightless soldier will be sent to a spe-
cial hospital, where not only will he re-
ceive medical care. but his instruction
will be begun in how to care for him
self and how to make himself useful
under his handicap.
AS quickly as enough patients are
accumulated at this hospital to make
up ships complement they will be
sent home. The instruction will con-
tinue aboard ship, and special in
structor of the blind will go with them
for the purpose. Once in the United
States the main work of re-education,
for that is what it amounts to, will be
undertaken in special hospitals. This
work here is in charge of Dr.. de
Schweinitz of Philadelphia, and that is
the best guarantee. He has under him
many noted specialists in eye troubles.
Those are the plans for handling of
the wounded. A good deal has been
written in a general way to the effect
that the health of the troops is excel
lent. Here are the figures to prove it:
AT the present time the death rate is
.019, which is to say that in a year
only nineteen men of every thousand
will die. In a certain week not long
ago there were - deaths, and it is a
pity the total number of men we now
have in France cannot be given for con-
trast. O. fthat total one-third died by
violence. wounds, accidents. etc, while
of the remaining two-thirds who died
of disease, three-quarters died of
respiratory diseases
Part 2,will appear tomorrow)