MAIMED SOLDIERS.

WONDEES OF SURGERY

Extracts fro:n letters to lus father, Mr G. A. Eilen. of Kaiapoi. and his family, from Lieutenant Horace Ellen, who has seen much active service including the big battle of the Somrao, and was later wounded by a bullet carrving awny part of his lower jaw and another cutting a sorere wound in one of his arms, chow tho great efforts boing made in the medical hospitals of Britain to restoro our injured men to normal. As a sergeant, be/ore being recommended on the held lor promotion to a commission, Lu-ut-n----ant Ellen received tho 3hnt:ir\ Medal, p. is confidentlv expected that by the time he returns to his home Ins dreadful injuries will be scarcolv noticeable. The following extracts explain what- is l.ein- done ! >v surgical science for our bravo men, r.iul sp«ik.volumes for me heroic conduct of the New Zealand-bred &oldier:_ November 18. 1913. Must report some more progress. Tho wounds are healing wonc-eii*ull}, aud there is some talk of -stitching up tho arm this week, so as to avoid a large sccr Tho faco is healing wonderfully, nnd'thev have started on my jaw. and this week the jaw should be in splint*. On the left side of the jaw 1 have end good sound tooth, and a good loose one, and on tho right I have five and a clean gap in between, so they will have something to po on with, but the jaw" part gives a fellow socks. To-dav have up sevsn hours, and ns soon ns my clothes arrive from Franca I will bo able to go" out. but I am horribly thin. My food is all -iquid. Twelve glasses a day, ana am getting an ■adept at drinking milk*, but have not usJied for a return yet; hut to be fed means a 15' ass, a bib, a v>iece gt cottonwool, and :i sister to hold mv head and' jaw—some performance. They aro gocd to a fellow. Tnis place belongs to the Marquis of Bute, and 1 Sir John Kllermnn rents it. and pays for everything, salaries included. Thcrt are beds for GI patient.? and a staff of <i 7, and then 1 come along and vhey cannot do anything to me without ths sanction of a New Zealand doctor, Major Pickerill, who used to be a professor at the Dunedin University, so wo ought to bo well looked after. Sunday. I meant to finish this letter the next day, but I was on the operating table, ancf have had mv arm sewn up, andi thoro will be 110 scar at all now. Jiather wonderful when you imagine it. was over on inch and a half each way, audi another wound very close.

They also put in inv splints for tho jaw, so I tvoko up with .a mouthful. To put thing,-! plainly, having anything wrong with the ja vr is hell, and tho pain hellish. With anything else y©» can clench your hands and set your teeth and bear it, but this business is tho limit, but by next Sunday the first stage should be passed, and we then siti down and wait. By what 1 can nutke out, the jaw will be kept in position, and given a chance to heal itself audi then if it does not heal, to graft a piece of my log bone in x and also thoro will be the scar to take out of the/ace, so there is a little to go through before I get back my ancient, beauty again. I find it fairly slow, visitors ar& scarce, and my clothes are not yet hero, so I cannot get out yet. Sating i/; still out of the question, and I am stii' having tho usual twelve glasses a day. but am improving, can feed myself without spilling too much down mv bib.

December ■{. After the operation I seemed to waste away; could still take food, but it didn't seem io do me any goo,d. Liquid food, I fancy, for they fixed up my ja.w for a aay or so that I could take ramce, etc., and it seemed to buck me up right away. I must tell 3 011 about the gadget I have to vear. 'Inside, on the bottom jaw, the toetli are capped on each side., and the pieces held in position by a bar! Underneath the chin is a pinto,'and hi. tween the two are three wires with acrews that tighten up underneath the plate. The wires are verv thick and 1 hollow, and the whole is gilt over with 1 gold, so you can imagine the effect, but it means I can use my jaw a little, and 1 get something to eat. I will have to keep this, arrangement in for two months, and then they will probably graft some bone in. Then there will ha another operation to take out the scar in the cheek, give mo souid teeth, and finish up with electrical treatment, to get the nerves right, for at present my chin is stiff, and I can batk mygelf as a first-clais dribbler, and it is very uncomfortable. December 5. This being in hospital is not the game it might be, and sometimes a fellow gets j tired of it. The jaw has :v habit oP ! aching, especially where I have no teeth. This morning they gave me another gadget: ic is rather an ment, especially in the feeding line, as I can dispell.so with a" feeder and get back to a cup again, but when we eat, we need a lot of loud music,- as wc have to suck our focd in i and it goes —0. U. Sph. Sph. So far have not been out; have no clothes; but will soon start and see the gay'city a^airi. Am beginning to feel better, hut ithas been a rough lime, a.:id am not at all anxious to go through it again, but from to-day it ought to e,ose up a bit. Y\ r c are not far from th." Zoo here, and some of the fellows go there for a walk in the morning. They are all bandaged about the head, and havo various arrangements in ihcir mouths. December 8. Yesterday I received my kit from France, so now am dressed up, and am feeling much better now that J am gettin" past the ■.Iresc-ing-gOH-n stag-?. Now that I can look about, I can see how wonderful is the work dono hero to damaged heads. On.' man here hadi absolutely no chin, it had all been shot away, but he has been fixed up and is now quite presentab : e. First they fixed! up a jaw. then ihev made a chin audi fixed it to the teeth and bottom jaw, and then they took flaps of vskin and covered it all* over, ant; now he is nil right. Another ha.s had iop eyelids stitched on, and they fix up his bottom, ones next week.

Anoihfi- has had a noso mnde out of nnp of his rihs. and he declares that it is fui* Uc-ttfir in ,o.i;ipo 1-Jiai] the original, but it is all dene very slowly.