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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1915)
The Omaha "Rumor Re.chel U Thl Too Mnjr Ee,, Whole En thuiiaitio Patriotism Eiceed. Their Efficiency Hue Volunteered for Attendance on the Sick. The Above Picture Show, a Wounded Hero Ila.ing 1IU Heir Bruihed for the Ninth Time." ,,.,, , ,h, T.,r Hysteria, Intrigue and Cigarette-Smoking Idlers Make the Noted Dr. Blake Resign from the Paris American farts, Oct. 2. -i-fllE plague of frivolous I war hut" " already de- nounced by the Count ess of Warwick and others, has produced a moat rldiculoua though deplorable situation. Dr. Joseph A. Blake, the famous American surgeon, has resigned from the American Ambulance, the most richly supported war hos pital in Paris, because he could not stand the constant intrusion of In competent society nurses and help ers. He wishes to join the British Base Hospital at Les Orangts, which la conducted In a scientific manner and from which frivolous Idlers have been sternly ex cluded. Of course Dr. Blake did not say that he was resigning oa ac count of tho society nurses. That would have been unprofessional, but it is reasonably certain that that Is the true reason, from the manner In which his resignation has been received by the leading women of the American colony In Paris and from other facts. At first they declared that Dr. Blake must on no account be al lowed to resign. Then they said that If he went to the , British hospital they would use their in uence to see that it received do wounded. The American colony In Paris U to a large extent composed of wea'thy persons of leisure. The art students and poor Americans struggled back after the outbreak of war, while those who remained were generally persons of Inde pendent means who had become permanent residents of France. They were feverlnhly anxious to show their loyalty to the country of their adopl'on when the great calamity fell upon It. The American War Ambulance Hospital was Immediately organ ised. Hundreds or thousands of dollars were subscribed. Mrs. W. K. Vandorbllt, the elder, who has spent a large part of her time In rlfi for many years, was one of the most liberal subscribers. Only recently a fresh subscription of $350,000 wss received. The American colony were de Merited to find a roost distinguished New York surgeon, handsome and quite fascinating, to whom they could chat In their own language, ready to work In their hospital. Vt. Blake, who was long regard ed as one of the leading surgeons of New York, had left that city because of his domestic troubles and bis wife's divorce suit He settled In Paris and married there the beautiful and accomplished Mrs. Clarence Mackay, who, by the way, has emp'oyed all her tact to smooth out difficulties at the hos pital, but In vain. Dr. Blake at first welcomed the opportunity to bury himself In the most serious and absorbing kind of work and avoid the social cu riosity which had often annoyed him. He became an assistant to a Kreqrh physician, Dr. Dubouchet, as the managers of the hospital . wished to show their complete sub ordination to France s interests. Dr. Blake had no sooner put on Vhy Our Stomachs Don't Digest Themselves rTTT should not our stora jaJ achs, which produce gas- ' ' trio Juices capable of di gesting flesh that offers a decided rslUace to the action of these Juices, digest their own mucous . membrane, which Is about the most delicate and tender substance iu the human bodyf For a long time It was believed that the gastric Juices would not stuck a living tissue. When, how ever, the ear of a llvlnr.'abbit was allowed to hang Into tne stomach of a dog through an orifice Into which a glass tube was fitted, so that the experimenter could see all 'hat was passing within, it was .ound that the rabblt'a ear waa act ually attacked within a ahort time by the gastric Juices. This ex ploded the notion that living tissue could not be digested by the ilomach. U by then does the stomach cot 1 Igest Itself? Because the liTlng jiiy po&iraBes a miraculous power ' roduclDf protective agents bfcnever necessary. The protec ts substance It generates to check tto action of the stomach upon It U raw I - S", Ambulance and Now There Are Threats to Stop His Supply of Wounded! 1 r T ' : ' r-t-..w. M l u falsi V v 1 J . . "S. tf- ?.-;. ' ' v ' - t , . ; SS' i ' ,-rJ r :-: -sA A--. '2,, Dr. Joseph A. Blake, the Famous New York Surgeon with Soma of His Paris War Patients, His Care for Whom Has Been Made Difficult by Society Busybod.es. his operating sutt and taken out his instruments than he became aware of an astonishing state of affairs. There was an Insufficiency of patients and an embarrassing ex cess of society nurses, animated fashion plates and untrained help ers of all kinds. The fact was that the French army did not want military hos pitals fu Paris, but the society ele ment, both American and French, Insisted on having some wounded darlings to cherish. The conse quence waa that the few wounded . who fell Into their hands were smothered with affection and un skilled atteutlon, a very bad thing for those who were la a serious condition. Dr. Karl Connell. a New York surgeon, who was for a time as sociated with Dr. Blake In the American Ambulance, has described the state of affairs. self Is catted trypsin. The moment the orgaulsm dies trypsin is no longer generated, and tbe gastric Juices remaining In the stomach and Intestiues actually do begin to digest themselves Paradoxes of this sort abound la our bodies. Old aere, for example, can be produced artificially In an animal by Injecting Into lta blood adrenalin, an albuminous substance obtralned from the adrenal a'.aods. And yet our own bodies not only contain adrenalin, but we cannot live without it. Without It fatigue Is caused by the slightest muscular exertiou. It la plain that In the case of adrenalin tbe body generates some protective substance to protect It self against premature old age, Just as It produces trypsin as a check Kgatuit the digestive activity ot the stomach. In old age, the body's efficiency In manufacturing these various protective a genu is ma terially lowered, and the baneful effect of adrenalin, finding a less and less powerful brake confronting It, poisons all tbe omans of the body and thus produces the symp toms w hich we describe as old age. Sunday Bee Magazine . "The basic difficulty." said Dr. Connell." "Is that Paris Is In chsrge of the French mlliUry authorities and is an armed camp. As such the military authorltiea did all they could at first to keep It free from wi inded. It was only In response to the hysterical demands ot tbe civilian - population for wounded that the civil government ot France overrode the protestations of the military during the scenes of disorganisation which followed the battle ot the Marne and per mitted the wounded to be brought to Paris. Less than 4.000 wounded were apportioned to the 60,000 beda In the French caplUl. These patients were fought for by the various organisations, and la the melee the American colony got more than its share. "The wounded were housed In luxurious style, and their treat ment was beyond any conception of demands which might be made In time ot war. They were cared for and fed as no hospital In New York provides tor the sick. In fact, on these wounded there was lavished the entire love, sympathy and hysteria ot the American colony, "To provide for all the Tolun - teera the necessary labor was ap portioned out to the corps ot help ers, and these were ten times In excess of similar sUffs of esUb Itahed Institutions. The wounded In tbe surgical division were han dled with the utmost efficiency. This served the purposes of esUb lishlng cordial political relation ships and in providing a vent for the hysteria of the civilian colony. "Wounded continued to be scarce, but the American Ambu lance, by Us active and aggressive political attitude and iu muscular ambulance corps, continued to gather more than Its share. There were aome fine young American college athletes among the young physicians, and some of the other volunteer agencies used to ask them to help them get some wounded." Dr. Connell admitted that there was some cigarette smoking and Jollification about tbe hospital, al though he was Inclined to mini- Copyrlabt 11, If V of ilw I Mrs. Blake (Then Mrs. w I. f ! I , - -. V the Star Company. Grsat Brtula Rights Reserved. n - &$iti$n&p war i-jyii ' ill in il TUll1 i v 'I Tn Beautiful Mr. Joeph A. Blake, Formerly Mrg. Clarence Mackay, Who Employed AH Her Tact in Vain to Settle Her Husband's Difficulties at , the Paris Hospital A J y t." Clarence Mackay) in a Tableau Prophetic Scene. si. v - - . x - I . ' ' - 'V.' ' -,-.'t 0 1 IU fl The Patient: Lummy, 'er Ladyship Again? Look 'ere, George 1 Be a Sport. Go and Tell 'er I'm Too ' Bloomin' 111 to Be Nussed To-day. . ; " A Cartoon from London Sketch,. One of Many . Satires upon Fashionable "War Nurses." fnlxe Us effect in demoralizing the organisation. "It was not unusual for the vol unteer nurses to smoke in the cor ridors." said Dr. Connell. "It is the social custom ot tbe country. As the . volunteers and helpers were all ot high social standing, they usually met at tea for a few min utes . at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, surgeons, nurses, am bulance drivers, orderlies. Why not? The ambulance driver or the orderly might be a count or a member of some aristocrat' c family." It will be recalled that Miss Nona McAdoo, the pretty twenty-year-old daughter of SecreUry of the Treas ury McAdoo, went to work In this hospital and returned to America very suddenly. It was unkindly re ported that she had come away In disgust because she went to nurse wounded soldiers and found she bad to scrub floors. The truth Is that she found that to do the work of a nurse faithfully waa too severe a tax on her physique, and she very sensibly resigned. - Conditions in the various war hos pitals had already been denounced by the Countess of Warwick in scathing words, which have been echoed in all tbe allied countries. Doctors and other authorities were at first more or less Intimidated by the high social position of the but terfly nurses, and this straight forward language from a woman of tbe Countess of Warwick's rank and celebrity nerved them up to do their duty. "Unfortunately there is a very large company of yo:ng women to whom war is little more Iban a new sensation." said Lady Warwick. "The people 1 have in mind have not been content to devote them selves to brainless frivolity, be cause they must sample every sen sation that tbe seasons provide they have Invaded the sanctuary of the hospital nurse. Scores have found their way to the great Lon don hospitals In town to face what they are pleased to regard as train ing. I have known some who have as a War Nurse Page IYI) danced till 3 a. m. and have pre eented themselves at the hospital at S o'clock! . "Everybody knows that the tralr ing of a real hospital nurse is ' very serious matter; that it makes full demand upon physical and mental capacity, and that a long period is required to bring the seed I ot efficiency to flower or fruit. Tho ' social butterflies have made no such sacrifice. They have acquired a trifling and superficial knowledge of a nurse's work and have then set their social influence to work In order to reach some ne of the base hospitals where they may sample fresh experience. "They subvert discipline; they - are a law to themselves; they are too highly placed or protected to be called to order promptly; they have neither the inclination nor the ca pacity for susUlned usefulness. To sit at the end of a bed and smoke cigarettes with a wounded officer does not develop the efficiency of a hospital." These words of Lady Warwick led to a rKld reform of the British war hospitals, and especially those In France. Absolute control of tbe nursing staff is now given to pro fessional nurses of long standing; No volunteers or amateurs are al lowed to handle patients. All pro bationers must go through a period of training similar to that required in time of peace. They must begin their service by doing the hardest and most menial kind of work In stead of "sitting on a bed smok ing a cigarette and holding the hand of a handsome young officer." The rigid enforcement of these rules has led to a wholesale aban donment of the "nursing career" by the butterflies of EuslUh society. It wss this reform that led Dr. Blake to plan to transfer his ser vices to the big new British base hospital at Les Orangis. This is said to be a model of its kind. It Is Interesting to note that Us chief business manager is an American woman, Lady Johnstone, wife of Sir Alan Johnstone, of the British diplomatic service, and sister ot Gifford Plnchot, of New York. ' A curious feature in maklngCr. Blake's position in the American hospital unpleasant was said to be the Jealousy of th French doctors. They enjoy a handsome incomt? from treating rich Americans lu Paris, and it was insinuated that they feared a surgeon ot Dr. Blake's - reputation, with bis fame enhanced by the war, would in future take much of this sway from them. This imputation is naturally Indig nantly denied by the Frenchmen. One thing that stands out of this fuss is tbe cruel wrong that is done to wounded soldiers, who are used as playthings by the society butter flies. When a man has oTered his life for his country and perhaps suf fered horrible injuries he surely should receive the most serious and skilful attention that can pos sibly be given. v The scanda'ous conditions that have prevailed in many places are reflected la a cartoon in an Eng. . lish newspaper, where a poor wounded British Tommy, all smota ered in bandages, says to a soldier attendant: rm too sic to be nussed to-day." 1