Maggots and Peg Legs

Fresh from China by way of the U. S. Navy Medical Corps this month came a vivid surgeon's-eye view of heroic Chinese resistance to the Japanese onslaught which swept down from Manchukuo, entered "China proper" through the Great Wall and stopped just short of Peiping (TIME, May 29, et ante}. Excerpts from the report* of Lieut.-Commander Morton D. Willcutts, M. D., the U. S. Navy's observer at Peiping Base Hospital: "The North China soldier rates a much higher military mark than his reverses of the past few months might indicate. . . . Only those wounded by aerial bombing gave evidence of broken spirit. . . . Air raids at Hsi Feng Kou and again at Chi Hsien gave tragic proof of the nonsanctity of hospitals against aerial bombing. . . . "The wounded we treated were young, and in most instances finely developed men. They were orderly and well be haved. All were free of active venereal disease. Most were admitted in a state of exhaustion with badly soiled clothing and dirty bodies heavily infested with lice. . . . "Bayonet and sword cuts with frequent powder burns gave evidence of close fighting. There were no victims or evidence of chemical warfare. A majority of the wounds were through-and-through bullet wounds with small sharply defined point of entrance and large jagged exit. The wounds were invariably infected, many teeming with maggots. ... As noted in the World War, and in keeping with the maggot therapy for chronic osteomyelitis, the wounds when cleared of maggots presented healthy granulations and were certainly none the worse for the infestation. . . . "The weather in Manchuria was severely cold and exposures following wounds were often severe and prolonged. Gratifying salvage of apparently hopeless gangrenous forearms, hands, ankles, and feet rewarded expectant conservative nursing measures. The dead parts were permitted to separate spontaneously. A black, cold, apparently lifeless limb re covered often with loss of only toes and fingers or superficial slough... ''Students and young doctors were trained in emergency surgery and anes thesia. Their Peiping Union Medical College training proved a splendid foundation and proficiency was rapidly obtained. One thousand and seventy-seven operations were performed under chloroform anesthesia with no immediate fatality or accident. The work was divided between the two operating tables, both functioning at the same time. . . . Artificial peg legs were made from wood, plaster, and leather at cost of less than $1."

*Published in United States Naval Medical Bulletin for January.

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