536 



MILITARY SURGERY AND MEDICINE. 



ful ; it can only be employed upon uncovered 

 objects the diatoms, especially the larger ones, 

 such as Pinnularia, Stauroneis, Surirella, and 

 some of the disc forms, particularly Heliopelta, 

 are exhibited with a beauty scarcely conceivable 

 by those who have seen them only as trans- 

 parent objects. Even the simplest objects, the 

 stellate hairs of Deutzia for example, are pre- 

 sented under new and hitherto unsuspected 

 phases ; while many, of the smaller diatoms, 

 such as Cocconeis pediculus, show markings 

 and configurations utterly invisible when view- 

 ed as transparent objects. The illuminator 

 works finely in conjunction with Mr. Tolles' 

 binocular ; it could not be used with Mr. Wen- 

 ham's binocular, as the objective would be re- 

 moved too far from the dividing prism. "We 

 close with a few words upon microscope 

 stands. Without any disparagement to other 

 makers, we can name as unsurpassed, both as 

 to the quality of finish and completeness of 

 adjustments, the stands made by Mr. Joseph 

 Zentmayer of Philadelphia. It is, we believe, 

 generally conceded by the American microsco- 

 pists, that the microscope stands made by this 

 gentleman are, in many respects, superior to 

 the best English work. Since writing the pre- 

 vious article on the microscope, we have had in 

 use one of his stands, after a previous long trial 

 of Smith, Beck & Beck's best work. We see 

 no reason to regret the change ; the stage is 

 very thin, allowing the use of extreme oblique 

 light, remarkably, smooth and steady in its 

 movements ; and the mounting of the illumin- 

 ating mirror, a decided improvement, as also 

 :he graduated circle on the revolving base, for 

 measuring angular apertures. Messrs. Wales & 

 Co, do not yet supply the stands, but Mr. Tolles 

 furnishes several patterns of most beautiful 

 finish, quite equal to the best English work. 

 We believe Messrs. Wales & Co. intend to sup- 

 ply with their higher objectives an extra front 

 for immersion in water ; thus, by the introduc- 

 tion of a drop of water between the objective 

 and the thin covering glass of a balsam mounted 

 object, a much larger pencil of light will be trans- 

 mitted than can be the case when the rays 

 emerge into the air before entering the objec- 

 tive. The objectives of M. Hartnach of Paris, 

 constructed on this principle, first suggested 

 and employed by Amici, are highly commended. 

 Although the use of these objectives would 

 be troublesome, deubtless there are occasions 

 when their performance will surpass that of 

 any objective constructed in the ordinary man- 

 ner. 



MILITARY SURGERY AND MEDICINE. 

 At the commencement of the present war 

 there was a great scarcity of surgeons who had 

 any special training in military surgery ; a few 

 of the medical officers of the regular army had 

 had some experience in the Mexican war, and 

 occasional practice in the Indian conflicts on the 

 border, and a few others, civilians, had served 

 as volunteers, or visitors, in the European camps 

 during the battles of the Crimea and Italian 



campaigns. The great surgeons of our large 

 cities had become familiar with gunshot wounds 

 in their practice, but the rapidity of diagnosis, 

 the promptness of operation, the fertility of re- 

 source, the necessity of using often indifferent 

 or ill-adapted instruments or apparatus, and the 

 adaptation of the dressings to the protractec 

 delay which must often occur before their re- 

 newal these were matters concerning which 

 the number of experts was very small. For- 

 tunately those who were familiar with military 

 surgery were mostly in positions where they 

 could impart instruction to hundreds of those 

 who were to become surgeons in the volunteer 

 army, and brief as the time was for study it 

 was zealously improved ; the works of the great 

 European military surgeons, Guthrie, Larry. 

 Ilennen, Armand, and others, were accessible, 

 and several American treatises on military sur- 

 gery, by Dr. Mann (written after the war of 

 1812), Dr. Frank H. Hamilton, an eminent 

 army surgeon, Dr. Gross, and Dr. Stephen D. 

 Smith, were also within reach of the volunteer 

 surgeons, and were studied with avidity. The 

 most valuable assistance in the way of manuals 

 of instruction, however, was derived from a 

 series of pocket monographs prepared by the 

 eminent surgeons connected with the Sanitary 

 Commission, Drs. Van Buren, Hammond, Mott, 

 Agnew, and others on the more important opera- 

 tions, and camp and field diseases. These, fur- 

 nished gratuitously to the three or four thousand 

 surgeons and assistant surgeons of the army, 

 have proved of great service in guiding the 

 minds of the surgeons to a correct diagnosis, 

 and indicating the best methods of operating, 

 or the most successful plan of treatment. 



For the first few months, with the exception 

 of the wounded at the battle of Bull Run, and 

 the minor actions of West Virginia, the duties 

 of the military surgeons were mostly confined 

 to the examination of recruits, the enforcement 

 (very imperfectly accomplished) of hygienic 

 measures in the camps and hospitals, and the 

 care of the epidemic diseases, measles, small- 

 pox, and pneumonia, and the other usual camp 

 disorders, which prevailed to a greater or less 

 extent in the camps of the Union army. The 

 history of the hygienic measures adopted in the 

 army is given at considerable length in the 

 ANJTCAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1863, and requires no 

 further notice here. The object of the present 

 article is rather to indicate the peculiarities 

 whieh distinguish military from civil surgery, 

 and the improvements in instruments, appara- 

 tus, and modes of treatment which have been 

 evolved and have borne the test of the vast ex- 

 perience of the four years past. This is not the 

 place, even if there were room for it, for an ex- 

 haustive treatise on military surgery and medi- 

 cine, but it is a part of the sphere of the AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPAEDIA to note progress in medical 

 and surgical science as well as on other topics. 



Wounds received in battle are almost always 

 attended with considerable, and often with dan- 

 gerous or fatal, hemorrhage. The checking or 



