Monday, 26 January 2015

Poem ~ Telephoning for Bullets - Tuesday, 26 January 1915



Source: File: An X Ray Machine.jpg, 2015 Staff Sergeant G. Leo A. Coates, an electrical engineer in civilian life, performing an X-ray on a soldier in the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital at Moúdros. The X-ray was to determine the position of a bullet in the patient's one remaining leg. The Wonderful World of Typewriters from Robert Messenger, Canberra, Australia, Monday, 29 September 2014 [online] Available at: <http://oztypewriter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/how-remington-junior-typewriter-got.html > [Accessed: 26 January 2015].

A group of senior surgeons formed a gathering,
At the London Medical Society -
Upon 25 January 1915, in order to make witness,
To latest device developments,
That were pioneered - in the use of X-ray surgery.

First a combined X-ray couch and operating table
Was displayed by Dr Ironside Ruces.
His X-ray machine had been developed to remove
Foreign bodies from the tissue.

The equipment consisted of a moving apparatus
Situated beneath the table.
Over the lying patient was a transportable arm,
Fixed with fluorescent screen.

The operator locates the bullet, then with arm rigid
The screen is then replaced
By a needle - this presses into the patient's skin
Down onto the foreign body -
A process being to make for an easier operation.

The telephone probe was next to be demonstrated,
By Sir James Mackenzie Davidson,
Utilised a leg of meat, into which a probe pressed
Down into the patients tissue.

With an ear receiver, the probe encountering any
Metal particle made a clear sound,
To be telephoned to user - The equipment already
Had been used, on some returned
Wounded men - minimising damage to their tissue.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Marvels of Surgery – Telephoning for Bullets. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 26 Jan. P.5. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11362846/Daily-Telegraph-January-26-1915.html [Accessed: 26 January 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 January 2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1London

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