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1 Describe key features.
One key feature of treatment in World War One was the Carrel-Darkin method. This consisted of intermittently irrigating the wound Darkin solution a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite (the active ingredient in common liquid bleach) and boric acid. The Darkin method was used to treat infected wounds. This method was used to take the infection from the wounds. A second key feature of treatment of infections was the cutting away of dead, damaged and infected tissue from around the site of the wound. This needed to be completed quickly to stop the infection spreading. |
Source A From A Surgeon’s Journel 1915-18, by Harvey Cushing, published in 1936. Here he is describing the conditions under which is working during the battle of Passendendale on 19 August 1917.
My prize patient, Baker with the shrapnel ball removed from his brain, after doing well for 3 days suddenly shot up a temperature to 104 last night about midnight. I took him to the operating theate, reopened the perfectly healed external wound, and found to my dismay a massive gas infection of the brain. I bribed two orderlies to stay up with him in the operating room, where he could have constant thorough irrigation over the brain and through the track of the missile (passing warm saline solution along the path taken by the shrapenal to prevent infection). No light except candles were permitted last night.
2a How useful is Source A for telling us about treatment of infections in World War One?
Source A is useful for telling an historian about the treatment of infections in World War One, as it tells us about the use of the Carell Darkin method with the line about “constant thorough irrigation over the brain and through the track of the missile (passing warm saline solution along the path taken by the shrapenal to prevent infection)” This is useful as it tells us that surgeons in the field were using this method regularly on the frontline to treat infections such as gas gangrene. Furthermore the source is also useful as it is a comprehensive account from a surgeon Cushing working on the frontline, which we can infer was at a Casualty Clearing Station. This is useful as it is a first hand account from a surgeon who would of witnessed a great deal of injuries and dealt with the risk of infection everyday.
However, the source is limited in its value as it is only an account from a surgeon at Passendale. We know from our own knowledge that this was not a tyical account, as many surgeons did not have access to the latest methods like Carell Darkin until nearer the end of the war and that many soldiers died from gas gangrene.
My prize patient, Baker with the shrapnel ball removed from his brain, after doing well for 3 days suddenly shot up a temperature to 104 last night about midnight. I took him to the operating theate, reopened the perfectly healed external wound, and found to my dismay a massive gas infection of the brain. I bribed two orderlies to stay up with him in the operating room, where he could have constant thorough irrigation over the brain and through the track of the missile (passing warm saline solution along the path taken by the shrapenal to prevent infection). No light except candles were permitted last night.
2a How useful is Source A for telling us about treatment of infections in World War One?
Source A is useful for telling an historian about the treatment of infections in World War One, as it tells us about the use of the Carell Darkin method with the line about “constant thorough irrigation over the brain and through the track of the missile (passing warm saline solution along the path taken by the shrapenal to prevent infection)” This is useful as it tells us that surgeons in the field were using this method regularly on the frontline to treat infections such as gas gangrene. Furthermore the source is also useful as it is a comprehensive account from a surgeon Cushing working on the frontline, which we can infer was at a Casualty Clearing Station. This is useful as it is a first hand account from a surgeon who would of witnessed a great deal of injuries and dealt with the risk of infection everyday.
However, the source is limited in its value as it is only an account from a surgeon at Passendale. We know from our own knowledge that this was not a tyical account, as many surgeons did not have access to the latest methods like Carell Darkin until nearer the end of the war and that many soldiers died from gas gangrene.