ounds than the Dakin-Carrel treatment of sluicing wounds previously
referred to. The serum works on the same principle as the anti-tetanus
serum used to prevent lockjaw. The gangrene antitoxin is injected to
prevent the development of gangrene poisoning.

The serum was developed by Dr. Carrel Bull and Miss Ida W. Pritchett, of
the Rockefeller Institute, by immunizing horses by the application of
the bacillus germs, then obtaining the resultant serum from the horses.
The new serum displaces, in a measure, the Dakin-Carrel method of
treating wounds. As soon as a soldier is picked up wounded, the plan is
to give him an injection of the serum so that he can be rushed to the
rear ambulances with no fear that the deadly gas infection will develop.

The use of the serum means the wiping out of the big death rate from
infection, with death resulting merely from wounds that are in
themselves fatal. The gas bacillus was discovered by Dr. William H.
Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, 25 years ago. The bacillus
frequently is present in soil and when carried to an open wound
germinates quickly, developing into bubbles of gaseous matter, whence
comes the name "gas bacillus." The bubbles multiply rapidly, a few hours
often being sufficient to cause death.

A WOUND-FLUSHING SYSTEM.

Possible gangrene poisoning has been offset by the Dakin-Carrel system
of constantly flushing the open wounds, but patients are frequently too
far off to be given the advantage of the flushing method and this is
where the serum is chiefly valuable. The ambulance or medical corps
"shoots" the serum into the wounded soldier even before they douse his
wound with iodine.

The progress that has been made along these lines is indicated by the
statement of Lord Northcliffe, who after a visit to the front declared
that the annual death rate in the English army was 3 per cent of 1000
and that the average illness, including colds and influenza, was less
than in London, despite the discomforts of the trenches.

In the past disease has been as destructive as battles. Biology and
pathology, to say nothing of surgery and therapeutics, have made such
strides that disease has been virtually eliminated as a factor in
warfare. War takes medical science into the field, where the control of
large masses of men enables it to develop the highest efficiency.

Even in normal peace conditions biological and pathological science has
been accomplishing results not popularly