Show FEW WOUNDS BY COLD STEEL shrapnel and shell fragments cause greatest trouble owing to greater danger of infection much Is said about the comparative ly unimportant part played by colde steel in the present war the following passage from the article on surgery military in the new international encyclopedia would seem to indicate that conditions had not changed chang edi much in that respect since the franco prussian war also that the generali general classes of wounds remain essentially the same or shrapnel wounds are like those of the old round leaden musket balls bei be 1 i cause of their low velocity they are ara more frequently lodged in wounds than are rifle bullets shell wounds as it a class are much less frequent but far more severe than shrapnel wounds shell fragments cause complete dei de i st ruction near the bursting point but effet effect less damage in more distant zones both shrapnel and shell wounds are usually infected beca because sq the missiles carry into the wounds pieces of clothing and other foreign matter the danger of infection Is much increased because of the greater extent of laceration wounds by bayonet saber and lance occur so infrequently as to be of minor interest duri dur I ing the franco prussian war there were only COO wounds by cold steel among wounded grenades thrown by hand rifle and trench mortar a revival in late wars of an earlier practice recently have been used to a conspicuous extent la in flanders and france their wounds differ in and no material particular from those of shell fragments and subterranean mines |