his head that it took three
orderlies to hold him down. When he died the wounded soldier next him
burst into tears.

Amongst some cases peculiarly interesting from a medical point of view
was that of a Highlander who had three of his fingers shot off with the
result that his arm and side were paralysed; in another case a bullet
tore its way through and across the crown of a soldier's head and caused
paralysis of the opposite side of the body. Another man had, so it was
said, been hit on the shoulder; the bullet passed right through his body
piercing his lungs and intestines and coming out at the thigh. Yet,
strange to say, the poor fellow was in excellent spirits and complained
only of slight pain in the abdomen.

There was one death at Magersfontein which seemed especially painful to
ourselves. It was that of a young officer in the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders who, after the fight on the Modder, came into our train and
had a kindly word for every one of his wounded men; he walked along the
wards shaking hands with them and giving them little money presents as
he passed. His voice was full of sympathy, and at length he broke down
utterly in his compassion for some of their terrible wounds. His tears
did him credit, and we heard with genuine sorrow that he had fallen at
Magersfontein. So good a man was indeed worthy of a longer life and a
kindlier fate.

Almost all the wounds inflicted by the Mauser bullets seemed to be quite
clean and healthy, with no signs of suppuration. It has been suggested
that the satisfactory condition of such wounds is partly due to a
species of cauterisation produced by the heat of the bullet. But I
hardly think this can be so, for it is extremely doubtful if a bullet
ever gets hot enough to cauterise flesh. I once picked up a spent
Martini bullet which dropped within a yard or two of where I was
standing; it was quite warm but not nearly hot enough to hurt my bare
hand. A Mauser bullet fired at a fairly close range, say, 500 yards,
travels at such a tremendous velocity that it generally splinters any
bone it meets; on the other hand at long ranges--1,000 yards and
upwards--the bullet frequently bores a clean little hole through the
opposing bone and thus saves the surgeon a great deal of trouble.

The wounds from shell fire were not numerous in our wards. It seems
likely that if a one-pounder shell from the Maxim-Nordenfeldt hits a man
it is pretty sure to kill him. Some of the wound