Wounds in the Russo-Japanese War.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7738, 14 February 1905, Page 4

Wounds in the Russo-Japanese War.

The Russian surgeon Z. von Mantcufcl has sent a communication to the " Revue Medicale ilebdomadaire " of St. Petersburg concerning the wounds he has had occasion to treat during the war. Most of the wounds in the head were cured, but some of them gave rise to interesting cases of aphasia and agraphia, or the loss of the power of expression by means of speech or writing, which power was generally, though not always, recovered. The wounds in the abdomen frequently resulted in peritonrtis, more especially when the removal of thu wounded had taken place too quickly, or had been effected by means of badly hung military conveyances. Where the peritonitis was circumscribed a cure generally followed ; but whore it was greatly extended the issue was fatal. Laparotomy, more particularly when the surgical operation was performed on the field of battle, was found to . be worse than useless. Wounds in i the lungs wero surprisingly less se- . rious in their results. Cases wero i numerous in which a ball had traversed the lungs, and the pat Lent, af- ' ter merely an occlusive dressing of . the external wounds, had been able t to walk to the nearest station ; although, in order to elTect a cure, > rest was essential in addition to the dressing, these two sufficing unless ' fever supervened in consequence of in- - ternal Hemorrhage. In that case . tapping was resorted to after a week or a fortnight had elapsed, and when this failed thoracotomy was per- [ formed. With regard to the nature of the wounds caused by the different ' projectiles fired at various distances, 3 Dr von Manteufel did not 'observe [ any cases of hollow vessels or organ of the body bursting in consequence » of being struck by a bullet at close r quarters. In previous wars these cases have been produced by bullets fired at from one to 400 and even to 600 paces, or. where the head hn.v been struck, at from one to §.OO pacos. From 800 to 1500 or 1600 paces the wounds produced have had a ragged edge, according to previous war experiences, and beyond 1600 paces contusions without penetration have resulted. But these experiences have not been confirmed in the present war in the case of bullets fifed from the small-bore Japanese rifle, and, as has been mentioned above, T)r von Manteufel had observed no effects of bursting even when the wounds haw been produced by firing at short distances. The cases of wounds in the head observed by him, however, had all been proc duced by firing from distances of over 600 paces. It is probable, therel fore, that all heavy wounds at shorter distances were fatal before aid j could arrive. The cap or mantle of a the Japanese 6.5 mm. bullet is thick c and hard, and not easily deformed, s even by richochet. The " France f Militaire " states that some" of the j Japanese troops are armed with the a Bnvm.-' Murata rifle, the bullet of which has a copper mantle much » more yielding than that of the 6.5 r mm. bullet, and causing wounds very g similar to those observed in previous i wars. Neither has there been any _ modification in the severity of the wounds caused by shrapnel. The wounds are not clean cut or pierced, but torn and ragged, and the resultt ant Hemorrhage is nearly always fatal in the case of wounds of the head ? and abdomen. The common Japnn- ? ese shell breaks into von.- small fragments when it bursts, and the bodily damage caused by these fragments is not great, though the loud noise of '' the explosion hps a certain moral cfu feet,