The ravages of war—­to the lay mind—­consist mainly of wounds.  As a matter of fact, they divide themselves into several classes, all different, all requiring different care, handling and treatment, and all, in their several ways, dependent for help on the machinery of mercy.  In addition to injuries on the battlefield there are illnesses contracted on the field, septic conditions following even slight abrasions or minor wounds, and nervous conditions—­sometimes approximating a temporary insanity—­due to prolonged strain, to incessant firing close at hand, to depression following continual lack of success, to the sordid and hideous conditions of unburied dead, rotting in full view for weeks and even months.

During the winter frozen feet, sometimes requiring amputation, and even in mild cases entailing great suffering, took thousands of men out of the trenches.  The trouble resulted from standing for hours and even days in various depths of cold water, and was sometimes given the name “waterbite.”  Soldiers were instructed to rub their boots inside and out with whale oil, and to grease their feet and legs.  Unluckily, only fortunately situated men could be so supplied, and the suffering was terrible.  Surgeons who have observed many cases of both frost and water bite say that, curiously enough, the left foot is more frequently and seriously affected than the right.  The reason given is that right-handed men automatically use the right foot more than the left, make more movements with it.  The order to remove boots twice a day, for a few moments while in the trenches, had a beneficial effect among certain battalions.

The British soldier who wraps tightly a khaki puttee round his leg and thus hampers circulation has been a particular sufferer from frostbite in spite of the precaution he takes to grease his feet and legs before going into the trenches.

The presence of septic conditions has been appalling.

This is a dirty war.  Men are taken back to the hospitals in incredible states of filth.  Their stiffened clothing must frequently be cut off to reveal, beneath, vermin-covered bodies.  When the problem of transportation is a serious one, as after a great battle, men must lie in sheds or railway stations, waiting their turn.  Wounds turn green and hideous.  Their first-aid dressing, originally surgically clean, becomes infected.  Lucky the man who has had a small vial of iodine to pour over the gaping surface of his wound.  For the time, at least, he is well off.

The very soil of Flanders seems polluted.  British surgeons are sighing for the clean dust of the Boer war of South Africa, although they cursed it at the time.  That it is not the army occupation which is causing the grave infections of Flanders and France is shown by the fact that the trouble dates from the beginning of the war.  It is not that living in a trench undermines the vitality of the men and lays them open to infection.  On the contrary, with the exception of frost bite, there is a curious absence of such troubles as would ordinarily result from exposure, cold and constant wetting.