TOPIC:

BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

Starting from December 1899 the BMJ carried a regular (i.e. weekly) section entitled “THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA”. I have attached couple of the early ones and a couple from later on.

This is an extract from the February 24th 1900 edition – the author was Frederick Treves, F.R.C.S, Consulting Surgeon to the Forces. Note the last sentence – I think many of the Old Etonian Officers probably suffered more harm on the playing fields at Eton than they did on the battlefields of South Africa.

THE WOUNDED AT MARITZBURG. During my stay at Frere I paid two visits to Maritzburg, to see certain of the wounded. One of these visits was in response to a telegram from the War Office requesting me so see and report upon two wounded officers. The cases from Colenso still lying at Maritzburg were doing well, and one was over and over again struck by the marvellous anatomical feats performed by the Mauser bullet. Perhaps the most remarkable cases are those in which a bullet has passed through the brain without causing more than trifling symptoms.

To access an archive which gives you access to past copies of the BMJ & other medical journals, use this link

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/182/

Type “The War in South Africa” into the search box which will result in just over 1290 pages of hits! Click on “Sorted By” and adjust it to “Publication Date” to group the articles of interest together. Then to get to the right place in time delete the “1” in the “Page” box and type in “1250” (it will take it although the box is not big enough). The top article should now be entitled “THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA” – using the “prev” & “next” facilities will allow the discovery of others.

Actually there is too much to absorb – think it is known as information overload.

There are probably smarter ways to get to them but hope this works for you.

Also click on the pic to the right and that will take you to an article in the Indian Medical Research Journal about Gandhi which includes his time in SA at the time of the ABW.

Great stuff - can you post the bit about Gandhi? I can't seem to get it.
The medical world went on and on about the new wounds, first in articles and then in books. It's endless.
The popular press were equally doo lally about the subject: here's hyperbole from Lynch of the Illustrated London News, in "Impressions of a War Correspondent":

Death from a Mauser bullet is less painful than the drawing of a tooth… As a rule a sudden exclamation, "I'm hit!" "My God!" "Damn it!"... They look as if staggering from the blow of a fist rather than that from a tiny pencil of lead – then a sudden paleness, perhaps a grasping of the hands occasionally as if to hold on to something, when the bottom seems to be falling out of all things stable, but generally no sign of aught else than the dulling of death – dulling to sleep – a drunken sleep – drunken death it often seems – very commonplace as a rule. A smile as often as, or oftener than, any sign of pain, but generally no sign of either… just as dropping off dully to sleep, most probably with no thought of you or home, without anxiety or regret. Merciful Mauser!... Merciful Mauser be thanked!

Rob - this link should take you towards the Gandhi article - you will need to click on the link in the top left corner to get the full article rather than just the pics.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6515724/figure/F2/

It is titled - so not too much regarding ABW

MEDICAL LEGACY OF GANDHI: Demystifying Human Diseases