PROTECION AGAINST HEART WOUNDS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue XLIX, 31 December 1915, Page 7

PROTECION AGAINST HEART WOUNDS

HUG'G ESTTON .0 F FRENCH ARM Y DOCTOR-' There is a tradition in the British army that "it is not'cricket" to wear anything in the way of protective armour against bullet or sword. Even the/man who keeps a fat pocket-book over his left chest may look- out for cluift'. Such a'n attitude, *no doubt, comes .out of the genius'of a race of sportsmen, but surely it becomes, a dead-letter when one is pitted against men who do -not "play the game."' . . Tlie Germans in this war have upset all, the old rules,' and to play a loyal game against -them' means to be in an inferiority. It was the feeling that this was so which led to the recent introducion of helmets in the trenches, and the diminution of. wounds in the head already shows the value of the innovation. A distinguished French Army doctor, in a letter to "La Presse Medicale," makes a strong plea for some sort of protection for the heart. - He says:— j "The extreme gravity j the great frequency of -heart-wounds induces me to examine the question, of breast-plates from the point of view of the special and unique protection of the praecordial region*. The hdavt is tliei •only vital organ in which an insignificant wound brines death instantly and without appeal^' ■Dr. Filderman rather laughs at the stories told of watches, cigarette-cases, pocket-books, saving lives miraculously. In any- case they cannot be called scientifically effective. 'He suggests a plaque of ordinary steel, I.sin. in thickness, measuring 6in. by 6in. 'weighing- Toz., .slightly curved to fit the \ body, as, an x 'effective protection, in the j vast* majority of cases against death from 1 wounds in the heart.

He says it would not be cumbersome, heavv, nor visible, and could be put into the market at less than a franc. Also, it might bo used as an identification plate.%r simply modified, as a pocketbook. The idea seems worth consideration by our authorities, for, after all, lives are of more importance than sentiment.