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[Page 14]
the wound was stinking and foul with copious discharge. The case was so bad that I had no hesitation in giving a large dose of morphia immediately, and after cleaning the wound as well as possible, a large dressing was applied, and he was removed to the fresh air on deck. The odour was appalling & it was some time before the sick bay was clear of it. The patient lingered from four to six hours afterwards in spite of repeated liberal doses of morphia. Another face injury was nearly as bad. Practically the whole right side of the face was completely blown away. His temporal, pterygoid and maxillary regions were deeply exposed, and temporo-mandibular articulation was entirely removed. One had not time to examine these cases for minute details, but they were very instructive, and showed how hard it is to kill a man with face injury. In addition, the wound was septic & most offensive.
I had no hopes for his life when he arrived, but he seemed to struggle on and five days later on arrival at hospital at Colombo, it seemed likely that he would live. Later news tells us that the patient is doing well and they hope to fit him out with an artificial right half to his face.
There were four cases of fractured forearms two of which I amputated in the middle third of the arm – both did well. There were only two cases of fracture of the lower limb, both being the leg, which was in each case badly mutilated. One was amputated successfully in the middle third of the leg by the German Surgeon; in the other case I had to amputate through the lower third of the thigh. This case died.