Artery Bridge

"When the Canadian was brought in, his artery was severed by a bullet and his leg and foot were cold and white. We slipped in a glass tube. . . . The blood started to flow and the foot got warm and pink." Thus, in the antiseptic gloom of a casualty clearing station in Belgium, 30-year-old Major William Thornton Mustard last week described a new surgical trick which he hopes will borrow time for many a war-mangled limb, many a life.

This battle-born first-aid treatment (which Major Mustard says has been previously demonstrated on animals, but never before on human beings): a glass tube is fitted into the pulsing ends of a severed artery, bridging the gap so that the wounded member may live until the patient is strong enough to stand an operation. Intravenous injections of heparin prevent dangerous clotting in the tube.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.