SOLDIERS, WOUNDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 5

SOLDIERS , WOUNDS

HEALING DOUBLED. CHEMICAL MADE IN U.S.A. (By THOMAS R. HENRY.) WASHINGTON, August 20. The rate of healing of war wounds in many cases ran be more than doubled by a chemical made in the United States in carload lots and used widely a-9 a fertiliser. The remarkable effects of urea, made of coal, air and water, and first demonstrated about five years ago by scientist* of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have been proved conclusively by experiments on animals at Cambridge University and recommended by the British Medical Association for war and civilian wounded, according to a report just received here. Early in the war the Strangeways Laboratories at Cambridge, one of the

foremost biological centre* in the world, were turned over entirely to experiments in the healing * of wounds. Laboratory animals were subjected to all sorts of flesh and muscular tissue wounds and the rate of healing under different forms of treatment was studied. The result* have been accepted by the committee on wound healing of the Medical Research Council of Great Britain. They promise to decrease the load of military hospitalisation and hasten the return to duty of men with more or less superficial injuries. The etory behind this is one of the strangest in the history of medicine. In the firet World War it was observed that wounds left untreated until They became infested with maggots often healed more rapidly than those which were dressed almost immediately. Following the war this led to intensive experiments at Johne Hopkins University in which maggots α-ere deliberately placed in pereUtent ulcer*. Some I remarkable re»u"te were obtained. Hmv lever, to avoid risk of infection the J physician must be certain that the

insects themselves carry no germs. At this point the U.S. Department, of Agriculture started the breeding of sterile maggote to supply hospitals. It was then discovered that th<* maggots themselves played a small pan in the healing process. It was due to a substance excreted by the bugs, allantoin, which could be syntbesised in tinlaboratory. This was potent in promoting healing, but expensive. Dr. William Robinson, in charge of! the Department of Agriculture experi-l ments, then found that one of the I constituent* of allantoin, urea, had nearly as good effects when used alone. This was already in commercial production on a large scale. In wholesale lot* it cost less than five cents a pound. It hnd played a significant role in the history of chemistry. Before it*.| synthesis in Germany, nearly a cenutry ago, it had been almost universally accepted than man never could hope to] produce synthetically an organic sub-, stance. This was a serious blow to the philosophy of vitalism in Nature, which held that life itself must act as a. cataly*! in the formation of an organic product. Now organic chemicals are synthesized as easily as inorganic Much of the process of pharmacology in a century has depended on this revolutionary diecoverv.

Xcither urea nor allantoin, Dr. Robinson save, Ji.is any action as an antiseptic. Urea especially ccems to act! solely as a strong stimulator of cell jrrowth. Thus the normal cells around wounded tissue are better able to reeiei the invadin? bacteria. Scar tissue with a good blood supply forms very rapidly. Actually, Dr. Robinson mys, the use of urea in tome form on wounds has been common among European peasantry for centuries, but had been considered a mere superstition by the medical pro-; { fession. Valuable for Refractory Wounds. j "Urea," says Dr. Robinson, "is in a ! class by itself for larpe-waiJe treatment*-.! cither civilian or military. Its cheap-j i ness, ite availability in* ton lots i* desired, the ease with which it jroes into j •solution, its harnilessnesit even in stronp j concentrations, and it« eftVcTivenet-* in stimulating healing make it an • unusually interesting therajx-utic ayent. One ran only coniertiire what it* eflVrt • might ha\e l*e»-ji had ii bt-eu ur«l during : j the first world war.' , i

At first *i<3 stations, it is explained, it might be used in conjunction with, sulfanilamide packings or duetuigt which put some of the most oommoa jrerros out of action. Tee value is great. Dr. Robinson save, for wounds which fail to heal for month* and threaten to leave wounded mem permanent war casualties. Hitherto, the healing effort* of urea and the more complex alla-utoin have been known almost cntirelj from clinical observations where variant unknown fartors may have contributed to the end result. * The Stnuj£eway« laboratory «L§»eriinenU are the first *im which all extraneous factors hare beem eliminated.—X.A.X.JL