Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1921-07-18

London, July 1S.-Last August
departmental committee of the
war office was appointed, with
Lord scarborough as chairman,
to inquire into the nature and
treatment of shellshock and asso-
ciated matters. Criticism of the
committees rate OF progress has
lately made itself heard, and there
is considerable curiosity as to
what it has done and is doing.
The committee held its first
meeting on September and has
met once week ever since, with
one or two exceptions. At each
sitting it has examined two or
8 witnesses, the last to be heard
being Captain Gee, v. G. M. P. 1t
is examining commanding officers
Of all kinds and grades, medical
officers, both civil and military:
recruiting officers, and officers
who have suffered from some form
Of shell-shock, and is about to ex-
anime representative of high
command. 1t will also take the
evidence of men who have suffer-
ed. 1t has appointed sub-commit-
tees to deal with special aspects of
the subject. 1t expects to report
in the autumn.
Generally the results of the in
quiry so far are understood to JUS
try the cIew that the term SHELF
shock is unfortunate. 1t is much
to be regretted, indeed, that it was
ever used at all, because in many
instances the bursting of a shell
has nothing to do with the shock
the man receives. The evidence
shows that the aHcections OF men
said to be suffering from she'll
shock are nervous diseases in all
respects similar to those known to
the medical profession in civil life.
There is really no distinction to be
drawn between the two. There
are, however, two classes of cases.
There is the class of case where a
man is knocked down, perhaps
buried by bursting shell. There
are records of men being killed
outright by the firing of a shell
close by, although on examination
they show no outward sign of a
wound. Those may, in sense, be
described as shell-shock cases, but
the majority of cases are those of
people who suffer either from neu-
rosis or hysteria produced without
the Intervention of any particular
explosion. These men are either
men of character and bravery who
went on until human nature re-
fused to do any more, when the
nervous system collapsed, or they
are men who, from the beginning,
had no heart for such an existence
as war, were bound to break down
and should never have been re-
cruited for service at the front.
Some of them suffered from infec-
tious and other debilitating condi-
tions.
The French instituted a system
of keeping men suffering from
shell-shock in rest hospitals be-
hind the front instead of sending
them home. They did this because
they found that nervous disease
was better treated in the hard
medical environment of the camp
than by letting the patients return
to their families, where they were
sympathized with and molly
cod1fed."
IRE is no evidence whatever
of this neurosis in previous wars.
1t is perfectly certain that in We'll
lington's campaign, where there
were the bloodiest battles possible,
men must have collapsed in the
same way as they did in the late
war. 1t has been objected that
the armies in those days did not
have such big guns and high ex-
plosive shells. That, however, is
not an explanation, because the
majority of cases are really break
down cases from wear and tear,
quite apart from the effect of the
firing of the shell. What did the