FOURTH UNIT CARED FOR 8000

Dr. Hugh Cabot '94, in charge of the Fourth Contingent of the Harvard Unit, which has just completed a service of three months in charge of a semi-base hospital "somewhere in France," has written a brief account of the work, parts of which are printed below:

"During our three months' term of service about 8,000 men passed through our hands, and of this number only 19 died under our care. Practically all the sick and wounded during this period came from the region of the Somme and, before reaching us, had been passed through the Field Ambulance Service and the Casualty Clearing Stations, the latter situated from three to five miles behind the actual fighting.

"A most striking feature of the modern warfare is the high percentage of wounded as compared with sick. In most former wars the proportion of sick to wounded has been at least 4 or 5 to 1, whereas in this war, during the summer the proportion of sick to wounded is 1 to 5 or 6 and during the winter 1 or 1 1-2 to 1. It thus resulted that our work during the summer was chiefly surgical.

"Shell Shock" Investigated

"One of the most interesting problems was the condition which is now known as 'shell shock.' In no previous was have troops been subject to such violent and continuous bombardment with high explosives, and it is therefore but natural that the extent to which the human nervous system can stand such a strain has never heretofore been so thoroughly tested. It also follows that the susceptibility of troops to such conditions varies considerably with their nationality and still more with individual peculiarities of temperament.

Praise for Members of Unit

"The particular contingent with which we were associated has undoubtedly had a better opportunity than any other previous one of showing what stuff it was made of, and it has in no respect fallen short of the standard which Harvard University may properly require of its representatives. Willingness, courage, tireless devotion and team play were here shown, and the whole credit for its success belongs to the members of the Unit."