as a carpet on which he lies at night, as a stretcher on
which, when wounded, he is carried to the place where he can have his
injuries attended to, and which, when he is killed, is used as a
winding-sheet. The medical organization of the army is as thorough as
the military. And the results attained justify the solicitude
displayed. From month to month the percentage of wounded who are able
to return to the front has been augmenting steadily, and the
death-rate has decreased correspondingly. During the first month of
the war, out of every hundred wounded there were 84.8 capable of
further service, 3.0 dead, and 12.2 incapacitated or sent home. In
September of the same year the number of those able to return to the
front rose to 88.1, or about 4 per cent. more. And at the same time
the death-rate sank from 3 to 2.7 per cent. In the third month the
proportion of soldiers able to resume their places in the ranks of
fighters was 88.9, while the deaths had been reduced to 2.4. During
the period beginning with November and ending in March the number of
the wounded who went back to the front oscillated between 87.3 and
88.9. In November the percentage of deaths was only 2.1 per cent., and
in December only 1.7 per cent. January 1916 showed a further
improvement, the death-rate having fallen to 1.4 and in February 1.3
per cent. During the two following months the percentage rose again to
1.4, but declined slowly until in June and July it had descended to
1.2 per cent. The number of wounded men who were sent back to their
places at the front had meanwhile increased by April to 91.2, and by
June 1915 to 91.7, and in May and July to 91.8. Seven per cent. were
wholly incapacitated or dismissed to their homes. Among the latter a
considerable percentage returned subsequently to the ranks.
Altogether, then, about 91.8 per cent. of the wounded German soldiers
who fall in battle are so well taken care of that they are able to
fight again, and no more than 1.2 per cent. of the total number
succumb to their wounds.[143]

[143] _Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift._

This strict conformity to the material and psychological conditions of
success marks the method by which the Germans proceed to realize a
grandiose plan which is understood and furthered by one and all. Their
talent for organization, their insight, their inventiveness, and their
highly developed social sense are all pressed into the service of this
patriotic cause. And it