GERMAN WAR SURGERY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 11 December 1914, Page 5

GERMAN WAR SURGERY

Mr. S. Osborn (says the Lancet of September 12) has been in charge of a Red Cross contingent in Belgium since the commencement of the war. The following notes by his assistants reached us on September 0, from Brussels:

We have just returned to Brussels after spending a week at Geinbloux treating German casualties from the battlefields pround Namur and Aizeau. During that period about 350 Germans passed through our hands, and altogether we must have seen 1,500 or more cases. At first some of the Germans refused to be treated by us, and as we were not allowed to help the wounded prisoners we had- time on our hands m which to observe the German medical corps on active service. It cannot be said that their methods impressed us favorably. Among the cases that came under us for assistance, wounds of the extremities were at least three times more common than in other parts, the upper extremity suffering equally with the lower. In the gunshot wounds there was the usual small wound of entrance, with the larger one of exit, which was suppurating in 60 per cent, of our" cases, showing that the German first field dressing is not a very effective preventive against sepsis. The wounds of entrance healed rapidly; there were no sinus left, the typical wound at the end of four days being represented by a suppurating patch of tissue about an inch in diameter at the place of exit. We saw few fractuies, but such as occurred were severe and compound. Several of these had been treated at dressing stations with plaster-of-paris splints—a dangerous practice when the men were unable to be kept under observation for some time. A Hanoverian officer, with his left arm in plaster-of-paris splint, came to us and complained of pain in the hand. On examination Mr. Osbora- found no evidence of circulation, and at the end of 45 minutes' work with a razor, as we had no clippers, the splint was removed. It had been intended that this man should have gone on to Liege, an eight hoars' journey, without further medical attention. The German transport for wounded was very poor indeed; except for four light ambu- j lance waggons, aboujb 2,000 -wounded were evacuated through Gembloux on improvised farm carts, each cart containing a little straw and carrying about 12 men. The scheme was to collect the cases from the battles round Namur and Aizeau, to use Gembloux as the railhead, and to hurry all the cases without discrimination back through Liege to Germany. We saw one man, who was shot through the pubes, taken from bed, dressed in full kit with his rifle slung, and dragged along on foot to the station. Here the only accommodation provided for the wounded consisted of cattle trucks, in which wooden benches had been placed, no space being left on the floor for the badly wounded. Of the great discomforts and the foul atmosphere of such a journey we can speak for ourselves, since w© were compelled to use this means to return to Brussels. Tlie feeding of the patients at 6ur hospital was in charge of a German orderly, and here, again, there was a total lack of discrimination. Black bread and German sausage or fat bacon were provided every day, and if a man were too ill to eat such fare he went without. Fresh milk w^as impossible to obtain, but our nurses managed to secure condensed milk and weak coffee for a few of the gravest cases.

, We saw several operations in the big base hospital. It was a curious sight— a most extraordinary mixture of asepsis and filthy work. For instance, the region round the wound was shaved, yet half the hairs fell into the wound; the surgeon washed his hands most carefully, and then tOUPhejl the cigar Avhich he smoked all the time; the instruments were carefully sterilised by boiling, and then plac&d on a towel which had been used for the instruments for the last 20 operations. Big collections of pus and blood on the tables were ignored, the only means of removal appearing to be on the uniform of the next patient. Anaesthetics were seldom given, and it must be said that the fortitude of both French and German was remarkable. Nearly every case witnessed consisted of removal of bullets from a suppurating part. Treatment consisted in enlarging the wound, probing, and extracting with long forceps, and then forcing a way through the tissues with the forceps to the most dependent part, where a second incision was made, when a gauze wick was inserted. The authorities would not allow Mr, Ostoorn to perform any operation, but in the case of a French soldier who had a wound just below the skin in the left thigh, he extracted the bullet by means of a razor borrowed from a soldier standing ty. j