Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-04-20
Medical Science Profits by
/. War.

and other American, British and
French medical officers toward the
close of the world war have brought
forth new evidence regarding the
cause and nature of the strange con-
dition known as Shock" condition
that led to innumerable deaths in
war time and frequently has SINH
lar result after accidents in time OF
peace.
"shock, or wound shock as it is
often called, has long bafled the
medical profession" DR.. Cannon said
today to the Associated Press, on be-
ing asked to describe the results OF
his important work in Paris?
"This condition, which by the way
should not be confused with she'll
shock, an entirely different phenome-
non, usually develops some hours af-
ter a serious wound or accident. 1t
frequently followed grave she'll
wounds in the war, and often comes
on after a person has been seriously
hurt in an accident in times of peace,
after, for example, he has had a limb
crushed in railroad accident.
ga man in a state of shock usually
lies perfectly quiet, his skin is cold
and moist with sweat, his pulse is
rapid and thready, his arterial pres
sure is much reduced, he breathes
rapidly and specifically, and al
though not paralyzed he has little
energy and his mind is dulied. He
often complains of being cold and
thirsty. This condition may be fol-
lowed by death or by gradual re-
covery.
"There have been numerous theo-
ries of the nature of shock. Some
doctors held that shock resulted from
nervous collapse, others that it came
from a clogging of blood vessels by
fat from wounds, some that it was
due to paralysis of the nerves con-
trolling the arteries, others that the
adrenal gland was somehow affected
so as to do the mischief, and so on.
"Our work in France gave US op-
portunities to study shock in the ut
most detail. One by one we threw out
the theories advanced in former
years.
"We finally tested and established
the fact that the condition results
from the tearing or crushing of mus
cles or other tissues by missiles NOV
ing with terrible velocity. The dam
aged OF dead tissue soon becomes tox-
ic, or in other words acts like a sort
of poison. This toxin causes an iriS
creased permeability of the smallest
blood vessels, the capillaries, and thus
there is lost through theirwalls guam
titles of the fluid portion of the blood
which should be in circulation. The
result is somewhat similar to that of
great loss of blood from the body"
American, British and French
r,edical and surgical officers COOP
Grated in the Investigations, some of
which were made at Bethune in 1917,
some in London, and others at Dijon
in 1918 in laboratory of the Ameri-
can Expeditionary force under DR..
Cannon's direction.
A,'Toward the end of the war we
had learned much about methods OF
treating such cases, finding that it
was helpful to keep the patient amply
warm, to give him quantities of water
and if necessary to transfuse blood
into his system from somebody
else's," he said.
"The mass of information about
shock which was collected during the
war and will ultimately be published
is going to prove useful in times OF
peace, for the condition often de-
velops after accidents of various
kinds in which there is extensive
tearing or crushing of tissues, and
physicians will now be able to handle
such cases more effectively than ever
before"
DR.. Cannon is now engaged at the
Harvard Physiological laboratory in
studies of the function of the thy
roid gland, following his discoveries
in recent years concerning the ad-
renal gland.
One Estimated at Fifteen Mil