Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-11-30
Surgery RevOlutiOnized

Surgery RevOlutiOnized
And then came the Carrel-
Dakin solution. 1t was given
to the surgeons of the Allied
armies with the modest sugges-
ton "Try it and see" The
surgeons tried it and saw. They
saw miracle happen before
their eyes. That miracle is
summed up in the words of
Madame Carrel, a war nurse
and the wife of one Of the dis
coverers of the antiseptic.
Madame Carrel said: I'VE take
pride in the fact that no man has
yet died of wound injection in our
hospital. AMI see how comfortable
they are-so confident of victory. The
fine part of it. too, is that we are
turning out almost no cripples, but
men who can fight and work-fight
and work for France!"
Think what that statement means.
The wonder of it can be better un-
derstood by recalling this fact: AL
lied hospital reports show that be-
fore the discovery of the Carrel-
Dakin solution seventy per cent. of
the wounded succumbed to their in
juries or were MANNED for life.
Seventy per cent.-without the anti
septic. Not one death and almose
no cripples vixen it was used. Think
OF il!
There is no parellel for this in the
annals of medical history. Words
like marvellous" wonderful" mi
raculous," seem trite and common
place when speaking of this epoch
making achievement. ia Nature"
the well-known scientific journal of
Paris, called the Carrel- Dakin solu-
ton 1.-THE greatest medical discovery
since the days of Lister-the father
of antiseptics." A prominent writer
in "The Worlds Work." in describ
ing what the antiseptic accomplished
in the war hospitals, said that sur
geons could fortell to a day when q
wounded patient would recover.
Think of an antiseptic so sure, so
dependable, that a surgeon seeing a
great raw gaping wound in the leg
or thigh, with a foot or more of
angry charred flesh, could tell weeks
in advance. the very day when the
seemingly mortal wound would be
healed and the patient returned to
the ranks. sound in body and limb.
Rpc,Vfc Actou;cl,;pr
What different picture this pre-
sents to the mind from the direful
situation in the early days of the
war. At that time the medical pro-
fession had only two kinds of anti
septics. Highly poisonous COM
pounds that, when used in sufficient
strength to kill germs. would also
destroy flesh and membrane like
fire; and the so-called mild antisep-
tics that possessed little more germ
icidal power than rain water. It is
a fact which every physician knows
that although malignant bacteria
are the cause of almost all suffer-
ing and disease. until the discovery
of the Carrel-Dakin solution, sur
SCIy Aou Aiotillii6 Which, d1SI uO0
real protection against its ever pres
ent and most dangerous foe.
The horrible infection caused by
modern gun fire set the world at
work night and day to find some
thing that would check it. Some
thing that would really destroy
germs and could also be applied
with safety to the human body. The
result was the Carrel-Dakin sou-
ton. Thousands suffered. thousands
died. that this antiseptic might be
born. 1t conquered infection in the
war hospitals. 1t is the wonder of
modern surgery. but when it was
first given to the world the work
was only half completed for the an
tiseptic was unstable in other