Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 | Page 4

calibre has not previously been afforded to British surgeons.
I think the general trend of the observations goes to show that the employment of bullets of small calibre is all to the advantage of the men wounded, except in so far as the increased possibilities of the range of fire may augment the number of individuals hit; also that such variations as exist between wounds inflicted by bullets of the Martini-Henry and Mauser types respectively, depend rather on the form and bulk of the projectile than on any inherent difference in the nature of the injuries. Thus in the chapter devoted to the general characters of the wounds, it will be seen that most of the older types of entry and exit aperture are produced in miniature by the small modern bullet, and that the main peculiarity of the deeper injuries is the frequent strict localisation of the direct damage to an area of no greater width than that crossed by narrow structures of importance such as arteries or nerves.
It is to be regretted that I am unable to furnish any important statistical details, but incomplete numbers, such as are at my disposal, would be of little value. In view, however, of the considerable interval which must elapse before the Royal Army Medical Corps is able to arrange and publish the large material which will have accumulated, it has seemed unwise to defer publication until the completion of a report which will deal with such matters thoroughly.
It may be of interest to premise the opportunities which I enjoyed of gaining experience during the campaign. I arrived in South Africa on November 19, 1899; two days later I proceeded to Orange River with Surgeon-General Wilson, and on the day three weeks after leaving home performed some operations in the field hospitals on patients from the battle of Belmont. I remained at Orange River during the three next engagements, Graspan, Enslin, and Modder River, and on the day of Magersfontein I went forward to the Field hospitals at Modder River, arriving during the bringing in of the patients from the field of battle. I returned to Orange River with the patients and remained there a further period of three weeks, during which time the patients were gradually transferred to the Base hospitals at Wynberg. At Christmas I followed the patients down to the base, and thus was able to observe the course of the cases from their commencement to convalescence. I remained at Wynberg six weeks, during which time a number of cases from the neighbourhood of Rensburg and some from Natal were received. On February 7, I left Wynberg, following Lord Roberts up to my old quarters at Modder River, where I saw a few wounded men brought in from the engagements at Koodoosberg Drift. On Lord Roberts's departure for Bloemfontein he requested me to return to Wynberg to await the wounded who might be sent down from the fighting which might occur during his advance. I therefore had the disappointment of seeing the start of the army, and then returning to Wynberg, where I remained for another six weeks in attendance at Nos. 1 and 2 General Hospitals.
During this period a very large number of the wounded from Paardeberg Drift and other battles were sent down and treated, after which surgical work began to flag.
On April 14, I was recalled to the front and journeyed to Bloemfontein, where I stayed three weeks, making one journey out to the Bearer Company of the IX. Division at the Waterworks.
On May 4, I left Bloemfontein with Lord Roberts's army, and shortly after joined the IX. Division, with which I journeyed until the commencement of June, seeing a good deal of scattered work in the field and Field hospitals, and in the small temporary improvised hospitals in the towns of Winberg, Lindley, and Heilbron. Early in June I left Heilbron with Lord Methuen's division, and spent the next four weeks with this division in the field. Thence I journeyed to Pretoria and Johannesburg, seeing a small number of wounded in each town, and on July 10, with Lord Roberts's consent, I started for home, visiting a number of the hospitals in the Orange River Colony and Natal on my way down to Cape Town. During the movements briefly recorded above, which absorbed a period of nine months, my time was fairly evenly divided between Field, Stationary, and Base hospitals; hence I had opportunities of observing the patients in every stage of their illnesses, and in all some thousands of men came under my notice.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Linen Holdall with surgical instruments]
My departure for the seat of war was rather hurried, hence my surgical equipment was not of an extensive nature. It may be of interest, however, to shortly recount what it consisted in, since it proved