table, and splashed down on to the floor in a cascade. The operator
paused a moment and then, while the blood continued to stream from the
wound, he cut round the bone until flesh was entirely severed from
flesh. The upper periosteum was pushed back and held by means of a metal
plate. The bone was sawn through--the saw grated and jerked and jarred
in a horrible manner. The leg came off and I dropped it into the white
enamelled pail. The toe-nails clicked against the enamel, and the thigh,
bumping against the rim, overturned it and flopped into the pool of
blood under the table.

"Come on--look sharp--never mind that leg--give a help here and remove
this man's bandages."

I was looking at a head that resembled a huge football made of soiled
linen. In place of the mouth there was a small, dirty hole through which
the fetid breath came and went. Above the hole was a big red patch. I
unwound the bandages one by one. Gradually the face was revealed.
Between the mouth with black, swollen lips and the bruised eyes, closed
by grey greenish lids, there was, where the nose should have been, a red
hole big enough to contain a human fist.

The wounded came and went in an unbroken stream. The tables were always
occupied. I went from one to another, unwound bandages, held up limbs
for amputation, fetched splints, padding, gauze, or new bandages. I was
too busy to think or to feel any horror. I was vaguely conscious of
nausea and of a hot, stifling atmosphere heavy with the fumes of
chloroform and ether.

Some of the wounded had arms that hung by shreds of muscle and sinew.
Others had feet that were nothing but masses of clotted blood, lumps of