This volume is unique in the correct sense of that much misused word. It presents the first organized effort in any war to carry out a scientific study of the physiologic effects of wounds immediately adjacent to the battlefield and many times on the battlefield. The research laboratory was brought to the casualty.
The studies thus carried out provided the solution of clinical problems which are of major importance in the management of wounded men and which are directly applicable to the problems of trauma encountered in civilian practice and to those of peacetime surgery.
Historical Note
A certain amount of background is necessary to understand why this study had to be made. There were two chief reasons:1. Severe surgical shock associated with trauma, even in an increasingly mechanized age, is not often encountered in civilian practice in peacetime, and, with really rare exceptions, it is not encountered en