x-rays on the battlefield

8/10/2019 X-rays on the Battlefield

1/4

Bv

F.

C.

Hennrsou.

The Photogruflts

lllustratittg

this

Arlicle'aere

ta|en

in Pietermaritzbttrg

Military

Hoslitol

by

Mr.

A.

Allerstott, arul

atlt

to

the tinze

of

.q'oing

to

lress,

are

the onl1t

Pltotograshs

of

their

hitul

zthich

haoe

reaclrcd

Enp'lond,

Tlte

lhotographic

heacling shoas

the

Hospiti ai

pie,ternt.aritzbttrg.

Tnnnr

hate

been

many

remarliable

clis-

coveries

in-this,-clr-ing

century

xhich

have

tended

to

the allei,iation

of

suffering

anrl

the

saving

of

life

;

but

for.

magr.riturle

oT

useful_

rress

lhe

Rilntgen

rrt\.s

rvill

not

inirrr.oliablt.

stantl

out

prornineritly

as

tlre

iro,,.nini

nd.gnilt)t

opils.

'l-he

app)icttion

of

tlris

so--

calletl light

ro

rne(lical'icience

has

changetl

the uhole

aspect

of hurnan

suffering.

In"the

Transvaal

ivar

its

utility

has

beeii,

ancl

is

being

most

striliin-^l\-

rleruonstratetl.

Its

uos-

sibilities

have

been-

rrrarrilcsted

to

arr ertent

men

who hacl

been

struck

clown

by

the accu-

late

aim of

the

lloer

}lauser

rifles,'ancl,

when.

nt length,

tlre

cemplien

is

over,

and the

corr-

flict

u'ith

its nianl'

sirle-issues

is

judgetl

on

".his.tor1''s

sullen.pag'e.''

a

conspicr-ious"

placc

wil_l be given

to the X-lays.

Ily

the

aid

of X-ra1's

the treotntent

of rhe

s'ouurletl

is

norv

r.er1'

rlifferent

fr.onr

uhat

it

rvas

rvhen

bullets

wel.c

onlf found

b1.

plobing

and

operation.

Wliile

before,

a

n'ounrled

man

$ith

a

bullet

in

him

uas

incapacitctetl

sonietilnes

for

1'ears

antl

souretir]les

for

eYeI

before

naral-

leled.

antl

it

ii'oul,l

seem

as

thouch

its

discrlu"ru

",u".*

arlangecl

to

rneet

its

need,

albeit

it

rvas

only

accidentally

dis-

covered,

The

intro-

duction

of

the

t'on-

derful

rnedium

is, in-

deed,

one

of

the

re-

markable

features

connected

with

the

\r'ar,

Upon

its

use

after the

battles,

have

e\:el',

he

is,

no\\.,

thanks

to

Xrra;-p,

at

once

relieved"

ofi.the

missile,

and

in tlie

South

African

climate

his

t'eco\-ery

is

so

rapid

that

rvithin

a

surprisingly

short

space

of

tiure

he

re-

gains

his

health

and

is

er.rablerl

,to

return

to

the

fiekl

of

active

service,

The

per-

centage

of invalids

forced

to return

to

England

is,

therefore,

ullets

Ciscovered

by

the X-rays

and afte \rards

extracted.

Copl'riFht,

1C00.

iD

the

Uniteal

Stat*

of

America.

by

C.

ddtur

pearson

Ltat

hung

the

iives

of hun-

dreds

of

the brave


2/4

40

comparatively

small

to

rvhat it

used to be.

Oniy

those

cases where

the

bullets have

lodged

in a dange-

rous part

are sent

home

fcr

treat-

ment,

and these

are

a

very

small

portion

of the

actual

casualties-

Within a month

of the battle

of

Colenso,

some

hundleds

of

the

disabled

men were

'b'ack

again

a'r the

f-ront,

$,earing

or-r

their

rvatch-chains

the

,

builets

rvhich

fiadbeen extracted

flom

them and

anxious

to

join

in

the

next

conflict.

THE ROYAL

MAGAZINE.

A buliet

in

a Fusilier's arm

{

But

for

the X-i-ays

these rnen u'or-rlcl have

hacl

to be invalided

home,

and the flghting-stlengtlr

would

to

a

larger

extent

have beenweakened.

Altogetherthere

are

six

sets of the apparatus

in

the field, but

the

greatest

rvolk has been

done by those

in

Natal

rvhere the

fiercest of

the fighting

has

taken

piace,

The unfortunate

colony

has three

sets handy, but

one of

these

lvas brought into use

only

after'.

the battle

of

Colenso, The

tu'o

in

operation

comprised

one

belonging to the forces

shut

up in

Lacly-

smith, and

one ivorked by a volunteer,

belcng-

ing

to the

Natal

Governmgnt,

and a

chemist

Read about the

mt

sterions

cours

after it struck thd soldier

of

Malitzburg, NIr.

Allerston.

The latter'

gentleman

reudeled

yeomalt service at a

tittte

rvherr tlrere \\'as no othel'

person

atailable in

the colony

who

undet'stood

the

working of the

apparatus,

and

succeeded

in

finding

and

locating bullets

vhere

noue s'as

suspected.

No

sooner

were

the battles

over than

the

riounclecl lvere remo\,ed

in the special ambu-

lance trains

to

the

base

hospitals at

Pieter-

maritzburg, and those

cases

showing only

one

\\:ound,

indicating that

the

bullet

had

entered

the

body

and remained

there, \r,eLe

at

once

treated by

the

ra1 s.

This

photo.

graph

of

a sol-

dier's hand

is

particulariy

remarkable in

that

it re-

vealed

a bullet

PmhcddPd rn

the flshy

paft

of the hand

just

belo\1,

the

knuckle,

rvhere

it had

never

been

sIspected that

a

bullet

existed.

In

fact, a

doctor

lr.ho lad

ex-

amined

the

lrand

declared

thit

there rvas

no

bullet

there

at

al

l.

,d


3/4

;

X-RAYS

ON

THE

The course

taken

by

a bullet

is

very

rqysterious,

and in

many cases

all the

medical

skill

in the rvorld nould

faii

to ascertain

its

lodgment rvithout

the maximum

of

probing

and

f ruitless operation. A

man, say,

has a

bullet

s,ound

in

his

chest

and there

is

not

thc

least indication

of

its

whereabouts.

It may

have

settled

in

the

thorax

or

have founcl its

rvay dorrn

into

the

abdomen;

only the X-ra1's

rvill

find it.

A

Dublin Fusilier

l.as s'ounded

at

Colenso

in

the

hand, as shown

in

ihe

photo-

graph,

but so. srvollen had

the limb

becorne

by the time

he arrived

at

I'Iaritzburg,

it

x,as

impossible to say s.hether

the missile n'as

embedded

in the flesh or

betrveen

the bones.

The doctor

in

charge of the

hospital

said

there

nas no

bu'1let

there

at all; but

he rvas

raistaken,

and

the

result

of

a

few

minutes

exposure

to the

X-rays

is

shorvn

in

an

accompanying

photograph.

Another

lnan

was shot in

the neck and it

rvas

thought the bullet

had travelled dovn-

t'ards

into the thorax.

An X-ray

photograph

discovered

its

presence

in the neck,

as

shorin

in another illustration.

Stiil

another

photograph

shos,s

the

entry

of a

Boer

bullet,

(The

only

sign

usually is a

little

BATTLE-FIELD.

4I

scar

about

the size of a threepenny-piece).

The

unfortunate

man

in

this

case

s'as a

West

Surrey.

He wallied

about as though

he

had

never

been

to the

rvar,

but there vas no

marl

x-rays on the battlefield

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