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MEDICAL EXPERIENCES OF THE WAR.
17 The author as no more than 3 per cent. can be obtained. has found it act in forty-grain doses, divided into two powders, to be taken in a wafer; and he thinks that none of the precautions customary with kousso are necessary. Koussin seems to have an aperient effect, and carries off the worm with the stools in three or four hours. Hence no castor oil is required. Professor Ditterich does not say a word about the head, but principally dwells upon the small dose necessary, and the absence of vomiting and nausea. The price of the dose is 6s., which certainly is not extravagant, when it is considered that, originally, the dose of kousso was advertised in Paris at 16s.
fragments killed oftentimes without externallaceraThese tion. The majority of in the hospital to which Dr. cases
Thudichum
attached
were injuries of bones in the secondary state, requiring operative interference. Many French were struck on the front and top of the head on account of their awaiting the attack of the Germans in rifle-pits ; the mode of treating these cases was to remove loose fragments of bone by chiselling off projecting pieces and jammed edges, and thus allowing depressed pieces to rise. The operation of trephining was not adopted, and was considered injurious. The wounds themselves generally healed well. The complications of the various wounds was
many and most varied. A French soldier was wounded at Gravelotte by a piece of bombshell, which entered the
were
HYPODERMIC INJECTIONS OF ]}10RPHIA.
Dr. Hamon, of La
Rochelle, has tried to prevent the use solutions for his injections. Finding that, after a while, such solutions present threads and floating particles, he has had one grain of bydrochlorate of morphia put in a little compartment of the box containing the syringe. When wanted, he places twenty-five drops of water into a small glass, drops the powder into it, and puts the glass in warm water. The salt immediately dissolves, and five drops of the solution contain accurately a fifth of a grain of morphia. What become of the twenty drops left? Are not five drops too small a quantum of liquid for injection purposes ?P of
cloudy morphia
right mastoid process, leaving an external wound of about half an inch in length, running perpendicularly. He was thought to have received a second injury below the left eye,
but the latter wound was found to be the exit of the piece of shell which entered at the right mastoid process. The right facial nerve was completely paralysed. The canals made by bullets were, in some cases, lined by loose spiculse of bone. One ball had entered the right shoulder below the spifle of the scapula, just missed the cavity of the chest, coursed round the first rib, destroyed the brachial plexus so as to completely paralyse the arm, and then had lodged beneath the integuments in front below the middle of the clavicle. A French sergeant, who had been in Rome in right THE USE OF STEEL. GOITRE AND 1848, the Crimea and Italy, was shot through the pelvis Dr. Seitz maintains, in the Alleg. ffled. Cent. Zeit., Dec. 28th, from one side above the trochanter to the other above the 1870, that steel medicines not only cause an increase of right groin. The wound healed in six weeks, and he did the Derbyshire neck, but produce an enlargement of the well. Resection of the shoulder-joint did well in one case. thyroid gland where there is the least actual or hereditary In the hands of the best surgeons, and under the most fatendency to the complaint. The author quotes several vourable conditions, excisions of the knee- and elbow-joints striking cases, and suspects that such countries where the did badly. These cases cannot have the care bestowed upon water contains a proportion of iron are most likely to be them in the field which they require in order to bring them inhabited with people suffering from goitre. Iodine suc- to a successful issue; and Dr. Thudichum adheres to the ceeded admirably in his hands, where, with steel, he had old dictum that gunshot wounds of the knee-joint reprovoked the rapid enlargement of the gla.nd. Dr. Seitz quire amputation." Carbolised lint was used with great adcalls upon his brethren to undertake experiments, and to vantage. No sponges were allowed for cleansing wounds,. follow up the cases with actual measurement. carded oakum being employed for the purpose, and after use being at once burned. Oakum itself does not seem to have been suitable for wounds, being too coarse. Phenylized lint is preferred by Dr. Thudichum. Bone operations MEDICAL EXPERIENCES OF THE WAR. did well, because sharp chisels were used, rigorous cleanliness of hands, instruments, and bandages was observed, and ON Monday evening Dr. Thudichum continued the narra- the patients had plenty of fresh air, and the tents were Medical Society of London, of his recent kept clean. Dr. Thudichum condemns the use of saws, and tive, before experiences at the seat of war, especially dwelling upon thinks that bones are the most manageable part of the the character and effects of the different wounds inflicted body." Wounds from the mitrailleuse were not seen by the author; and he adds that the Germans did not dread this by the chassepot and the needle-gun. Many German sol. weapon, since its missiles keep close together, and do not diers were wounded at distances where they could scarcely spread so as to wound many at a time. Wounds from shrapdistinguish the enemy. The wounds so caused were cha- nell, and from sabre or from bayonet, were infrequent in racterised by slight penetration of the tissues; sometimes Dr. Thudichum’s hospital; and he says, "at close quarters the clothes were not rent by the ball, but carried forward that side generally decamped which had the least liking for cold steel." Typhoid and dysentery, of course, were seen ininto the fleshy parts a short way, and on pulling away the fair abundance. The patients were many of them poor, and intruded portion of clothes, the ball came away also. Very came from distant parts of Germany. Dr. Thudichum preugly contusions were produced by spent balls striking hard fers male nurses for military hospitals. Religieuses in one bony parts, for instance the tibia, and frequently a portion sense make good nurses, because taught to obey; but of the struck bone subsequently necrosed. The range of otherwise offer no advantage over hired nurses, except that not for wages as well the chassepot had for the German this disadvantage, that they mostly work for keep only, and as board. Dr. Thudichum concluded by paying a tribute to the latter had to advance always under the fire of the the medical staff of the hospital to which he was attached, French over a space of 1200 paces before they could or did and his belief that they had done well what they had done, fire. Few of the German bullets reached the French with and in such a way as to uphold the standard of English the small velocity and low penetrating power of the chasse- surgery. p6t bullets at 1200 paces. The effect of the German bullets was, at their longest range, mostly more severe than BEQUESTS, DONATIONS, &c. -The Worcester Inthose of the French; and at equal velocities the German nrmary has received .S748 13s. 8d., under the will of Miss bullets, being the larger, had the greater penetrating power, Brampton. Mr. John Greene, of Gateshead, bequeathed and splintered and wounded the more decidedly of the two ’, =8500 to the Gateshead Dispensary; .8200 to the NewIn penetrating wounds of the abdomen and chest, I castle-on-Tyne Infirmary; .6200 to the Hospital for Sick the small French bullet seems to give to the wounded man Children, Newcastle; aiicl .6200 to the Prudhoe Convaa better chance of Mr. James Meakin, of Hanley, recovery. Wounds produced by guns fired lescent Home, Whitley. point blank-i.e., made by balls at their highest velocity,- has given t250 to the North Staffordshire Infirmary. The if no bones or large bloodvessels were injured, healed better Hospital for Incurables, Dublin, has received .S200 under than those inflicted by balls at lower velocities. The most the will of Miss Laird, of Sar.c?ymount. Mr. F. A. Schroeter common wounds, next to those made by balls, were such as has given .8100 to the North London Consumption Hospital, followed the striking of the body with fragments of shells, and .E100 to the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat, and these were fearfully lacerated; the large pieces of Golden-square, "in memory of his son." HE. N." has given shell tear, break, and kill; the smaller penetrate deeply. a second aeI000 to St. Mark’s Hospital for Fistula. 11
the
"
kinds.
fragments killed oftentimes without externallaceraThese tion. The majority of in the hospital to which Dr. cases
Thudichum
attached
were injuries of bones in the secondary state, requiring operative interference. Many French were struck on the front and top of the head on account of their awaiting the attack of the Germans in rifle-pits ; the mode of treating these cases was to remove loose fragments of bone by chiselling off projecting pieces and jammed edges, and thus allowing depressed pieces to rise. The operation of trephining was not adopted, and was considered injurious. The wounds themselves generally healed well. The complications of the various wounds was
many and most varied. A French soldier was wounded at Gravelotte by a piece of bombshell, which entered the
were
HYPODERMIC INJECTIONS OF ]}10RPHIA.
Dr. Hamon, of La
Rochelle, has tried to prevent the use solutions for his injections. Finding that, after a while, such solutions present threads and floating particles, he has had one grain of bydrochlorate of morphia put in a little compartment of the box containing the syringe. When wanted, he places twenty-five drops of water into a small glass, drops the powder into it, and puts the glass in warm water. The salt immediately dissolves, and five drops of the solution contain accurately a fifth of a grain of morphia. What become of the twenty drops left? Are not five drops too small a quantum of liquid for injection purposes ?P of
cloudy morphia
right mastoid process, leaving an external wound of about half an inch in length, running perpendicularly. He was thought to have received a second injury below the left eye,
but the latter wound was found to be the exit of the piece of shell which entered at the right mastoid process. The right facial nerve was completely paralysed. The canals made by bullets were, in some cases, lined by loose spiculse of bone. One ball had entered the right shoulder below the spifle of the scapula, just missed the cavity of the chest, coursed round the first rib, destroyed the brachial plexus so as to completely paralyse the arm, and then had lodged beneath the integuments in front below the middle of the clavicle. A French sergeant, who had been in Rome in right THE USE OF STEEL. GOITRE AND 1848, the Crimea and Italy, was shot through the pelvis Dr. Seitz maintains, in the Alleg. ffled. Cent. Zeit., Dec. 28th, from one side above the trochanter to the other above the 1870, that steel medicines not only cause an increase of right groin. The wound healed in six weeks, and he did the Derbyshire neck, but produce an enlargement of the well. Resection of the shoulder-joint did well in one case. thyroid gland where there is the least actual or hereditary In the hands of the best surgeons, and under the most fatendency to the complaint. The author quotes several vourable conditions, excisions of the knee- and elbow-joints striking cases, and suspects that such countries where the did badly. These cases cannot have the care bestowed upon water contains a proportion of iron are most likely to be them in the field which they require in order to bring them inhabited with people suffering from goitre. Iodine suc- to a successful issue; and Dr. Thudichum adheres to the ceeded admirably in his hands, where, with steel, he had old dictum that gunshot wounds of the knee-joint reprovoked the rapid enlargement of the gla.nd. Dr. Seitz quire amputation." Carbolised lint was used with great adcalls upon his brethren to undertake experiments, and to vantage. No sponges were allowed for cleansing wounds,. follow up the cases with actual measurement. carded oakum being employed for the purpose, and after use being at once burned. Oakum itself does not seem to have been suitable for wounds, being too coarse. Phenylized lint is preferred by Dr. Thudichum. Bone operations MEDICAL EXPERIENCES OF THE WAR. did well, because sharp chisels were used, rigorous cleanliness of hands, instruments, and bandages was observed, and ON Monday evening Dr. Thudichum continued the narra- the patients had plenty of fresh air, and the tents were Medical Society of London, of his recent kept clean. Dr. Thudichum condemns the use of saws, and tive, before experiences at the seat of war, especially dwelling upon thinks that bones are the most manageable part of the the character and effects of the different wounds inflicted body." Wounds from the mitrailleuse were not seen by the author; and he adds that the Germans did not dread this by the chassepot and the needle-gun. Many German sol. weapon, since its missiles keep close together, and do not diers were wounded at distances where they could scarcely spread so as to wound many at a time. Wounds from shrapdistinguish the enemy. The wounds so caused were cha- nell, and from sabre or from bayonet, were infrequent in racterised by slight penetration of the tissues; sometimes Dr. Thudichum’s hospital; and he says, "at close quarters the clothes were not rent by the ball, but carried forward that side generally decamped which had the least liking for cold steel." Typhoid and dysentery, of course, were seen ininto the fleshy parts a short way, and on pulling away the fair abundance. The patients were many of them poor, and intruded portion of clothes, the ball came away also. Very came from distant parts of Germany. Dr. Thudichum preugly contusions were produced by spent balls striking hard fers male nurses for military hospitals. Religieuses in one bony parts, for instance the tibia, and frequently a portion sense make good nurses, because taught to obey; but of the struck bone subsequently necrosed. The range of otherwise offer no advantage over hired nurses, except that not for wages as well the chassepot had for the German this disadvantage, that they mostly work for keep only, and as board. Dr. Thudichum concluded by paying a tribute to the latter had to advance always under the fire of the the medical staff of the hospital to which he was attached, French over a space of 1200 paces before they could or did and his belief that they had done well what they had done, fire. Few of the German bullets reached the French with and in such a way as to uphold the standard of English the small velocity and low penetrating power of the chasse- surgery. p6t bullets at 1200 paces. The effect of the German bullets was, at their longest range, mostly more severe than BEQUESTS, DONATIONS, &c. -The Worcester Inthose of the French; and at equal velocities the German nrmary has received .S748 13s. 8d., under the will of Miss bullets, being the larger, had the greater penetrating power, Brampton. Mr. John Greene, of Gateshead, bequeathed and splintered and wounded the more decidedly of the two ’, =8500 to the Gateshead Dispensary; .8200 to the NewIn penetrating wounds of the abdomen and chest, I castle-on-Tyne Infirmary; .6200 to the Hospital for Sick the small French bullet seems to give to the wounded man Children, Newcastle; aiicl .6200 to the Prudhoe Convaa better chance of Mr. James Meakin, of Hanley, recovery. Wounds produced by guns fired lescent Home, Whitley. point blank-i.e., made by balls at their highest velocity,- has given t250 to the North Staffordshire Infirmary. The if no bones or large bloodvessels were injured, healed better Hospital for Incurables, Dublin, has received .S200 under than those inflicted by balls at lower velocities. The most the will of Miss Laird, of Sar.c?ymount. Mr. F. A. Schroeter common wounds, next to those made by balls, were such as has given .8100 to the North London Consumption Hospital, followed the striking of the body with fragments of shells, and .E100 to the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat, and these were fearfully lacerated; the large pieces of Golden-square, "in memory of his son." HE. N." has given shell tear, break, and kill; the smaller penetrate deeply. a second aeI000 to St. Mark’s Hospital for Fistula. 11
the
"
kinds.