Soldiers in war are commonly easily depressed, and should not be fed too sparingly when admitted into hospital, unless they suffer from a wound of the head, chest, or abdomen. Without placing too much faith on the happy effects which Malgaigne tells us the Russian wounded, treated in Paris in 1814, derived from a stimulant diet, as contrasted with the Prussians, French, and Austrians, still it is unquestionable that there is too much tendency to look on the common run of gun-shot wounds as highly inflammatory, and to treat them accordingly. Velpeau's rule on this point agrees with his usual intelligent views, when he says he lays it down as a rule to remove his wounded and operated on as little as possible from their ordinary diet when they are hungry, and when there is no disturbance of the digestive and circulatory systems.
BUN-SHOT WOUNDfl AND Tiir.n: 1-7 i'lunul cod-liver oil of the greatest use in th I in which the wa>te by discharge w;is irreat. of lukewarm water ina the other, forms one of the most u-eful methods of treating "-un-shot wounds. Any shreds of cloth, clots of blood, pus, which may IKiii the wound and sustain the suppuration, will thus be got rid of with very little disturbance to the parts. The addition a little of Burnett's solution to the water thus u-ed, or to the x'ssing, was useful at the Of the tonic and stimulant injections recommended by writers I had no experience but I have seen the French employ, with apparent advani a lotion composed of one part perchloride of iron and three of water in profusely suppurating wounds.
The extreme simplicity of the appliances and dressings employed durinu' this war, and the nearly tot;;:!id such-like ''cover sluts," would, I think, have pleased Mr. (Juthrie. The "stiitl'mir in f irreat tents" was, I need ii"t Bay, unknown; and though we ascribed wondrous virtues to cold account Val or unchristian n iiich we supposed it to possess. and the light latent with the ends, were prevalent in our niir allies, wli -iven up the weighty plediivts ot' Charpc. ii line linen, which so greatly astonish lish. Tinsj. lints and other apjiaratus of the simplicity of the jvsl of lages were too little used, if accept tlh ihc diiliculty of always getting the necessary materials in the field is somewhat opposed to their use.
The state of the weather has got much to do with the rapid cure of gun-shot, as of all other wounds. From a perusal of the medical records of regiments serving in the Colonies, it would, however, appear that hot weather, as in India, is, on the whole, more favourable than a cold climate. Shell wounds, and grazes by round shot, are often followed by much injury, little suspected, but deeplyseated, resulting, not unfrequently, in wide-spread sloughing of the soft parts. I cannot avoid relating the following case, although it did not occur in the Crimea, as it is a most excellent illustration not only of the great and, it may be, little suspected harm which may be occasioned by a round shot, but also because it is an instance of what would have been in former times set down to the wind of the ball.
It is from the records of the medical department. Private John Conally was hit at Sadoolapore by a round shot on the outer side of the right arm and thorax. A blue mark alone was occasioned on the arm, and little or no mark was found on the chest. He died in twenty hours, without having rallied from the shock. The peritoneal cavity was found full of dark blood. The right lobe of the liver was torn into small pieces, " some of which were loose, and mixed with blood. There was no sign of inflammation in the peritoneum, and the other viscera were healthy." Shell does not comminute bone so much as a rifle ball, but it tears the soft parts much more considerably.
To refute the old myth concerning the effects of the wind of a passing ball, calls not even for WOUNDS AND TH Kill TKKATM mention in a work of modern times. All the ot' this description of which heard, were quite explicable on the suppositions laid down by Vacher, in his memoir upon this sulijrrt. Under wounds of the lii-jul, I have nieiitionrd a case which would 1111doubtedly lc set down of old as having been so caused. Then were many instances of the very near approach and even slight t' round shot, without any inconvenience arising, further than might be looked for fruiii the unexpected and unwelcome vicinity of such an intruder.