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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
8/10/2019 X-rays on the Battlefield
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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
8/10/2019 X-rays on the Battlefield
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;
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
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