Show WHAT WAR WOUNDED ENDURE former austrian army surgeon tells of difficulties in treating men behind battle lines philadelphia pa from my ob senat lons in the austrian army many of the doctors performed an amputation in preference to taking the trouble and at times the exasperating experience peri ence euce of applying lt splint or a plaster of paris cast declares E all bourne M D of philadelphia formerly captain surgeon sirgeo austrian army and military surgeon french red cross in an all article on military surgery and the surgeon in the present european war in american medicine the bullets are re in many cases of the dumdum dum dum duin type says doctor and fired at close range sometimes only a few yards apart producing a most explosive effect the limb Is often so violently contused confused cont used by the mass of jagged metal tearing its way through all of tile lie tissues that large portions slough away when I 1 speak of military surgery I 1 refer t to 0 a surgery differing from th the ordinary everyday every day surgery in that the injured are pressed upon the surgeons in such numbers that they are not physically capable of meeting the demands placed upon them in tile the field the open sesame same to success Is to as simply quickly and surely as possible dismissing the wounded that you oil cannot keep under your care in such a condition that they may be transported farther without danger from any possible accident losing sight of the great majority of its cases the military surgeon lacks any self criticism of his results to a physician first visiting the front after serving in a large basee base hospital Is presented an entirely new phase of surgery absolutely different from any of his previous teachings or experiences in a war such as we have today where here there has beers been continuous fighting for months without any armistice all his carefully planned and marked out ideas of first aid are shattered for he finds that the dead and wounded soldiers can only be removed by stretcher bearers from the field of action at night and that when this Is accomplished the motor ambulances cannot take the wounded to tb the field hospitals because by showing lights they would draw fire many unfortunates therefore are forced to lie outside the lines tor for hours sometimes days and weeks in the mud of fields until their torn clothes and wounds are so soaked in a mixture of blood and dirt that it Is often impossible to get the wounds clean the is the first place the soldier reaches when carried from the field it Is usually located in some available building such as a railroad station barn townhall townhill town hall or church here the wounded soldier receives his first attention the heavy cases are separated from the light ones and are sent to the lazareth la or hospitals farther behind the line and of better equipment doctor states that the first duty of the hospital corps is to prepare the wounded for transportation so that no harm or accident can come to them en route not only have tissues sloughed away from the almost explosive effect of the modern rifle bullet but fresh complications arise from broken bones the ideal way would be to set the bones in plaster of parts regardless of complications since little littie plaster of parts paris Is to be had upon a battlefield splints must be improvised from any material long and firm enough to keep the joints at rest immediately above and below the fracture telescopes sabers bayonets bundles of twigs newspapers wrapped u up P as they come from th the e post hammers hamm ersi shovels leggings b books boots even stockings filled with sand and earth are among the extraordinary possibilities pos which doctor has seen used as splints if no suitable splints can be obtained as a last resort the patient Is bound to a stretcher with a sheet wrapped completely around him and the stretcher |