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NEW METHOD OF HEALING
DESPERATE WOUNDS
By MARTIN S. DANIELS
W H I L E the most terribly turned back, the knee cap being taken
destructive battles known with it, and turned up on the upper leg.
to man are fought out be­ The joint proper then was cut open,
tween the opposing Euro­ cut apart completely, was left open and
pean armies, an equally uncovered until the patient died or recov­
tremendous battle for human welfare has ered. In case of recovery, the surgeons
been won behind the lines. This is the did their best to put together the dis­
recently announced victory won by Dr. sected joint. This only was accom­
Alexis Carrel, of the Rockefeller Instiplished if the infection was strictly con-|
tute, over malignant infection in deep fined to the immediate neighborhood of
and extensive wounds.
the wound ; if X-ray photographs showed
Gas gangrene is a hideously danger­ the entire joint to be involved, the whole
ous malady, and one that becomes a pro­ leg would be amputated forthwith, belific
cause of death in war times. It is cause bitter experience had taught the
caused by a bacillus that is carried into surgeons that the "airing" method de­
the deep tears and holes in human flesh scribed could not save the patient.
made by the projectiles of modern war­ The appalling destruction caused by
fare, and brings about a typical gangrene this dread disease in the past may be
—that is, decay and death of tissue in a realized when one considers conditions
living body. It is distinguished
by a gas arising
from the decay
process—a gas which
filters through the tissues
and is a sure harbinger
of death to any
animal structure with
which it is in contact.
At the time Dr. Carrel
began work, the only
known method of fighting
the disease consisted
in laying the tissues open
to the air, and keeping
them open until infection
disappeared—or the
patient died. A typical
operation was the treatment
for infection of the
knee. A deep cut would
be made on each side of
the knee joint, and another
beneath the joint.
This flap then was
Madame Carrel Flushing a Wound
The sodium hypochlorite solution is forced into all parts of the wound by gravity.
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