in the tenser tissues. The discoloration is caused by hemorrhage into the tissues (ecchymosis), and passes from dark purple through green to yellow before it disappears. If a considerable amount of blood is poured forth into the injured tissues it is termed a haematoma. The treatment of a bruise consists in the application of cold lotion, preferably an evaporating spirit-lotion, to limit the subcutaneous bleeding. The hemorrhage usually becomes absorbed of its own accord even in haematomata, but should suppuration threaten an incision must be made and the cavity aseptically evacuated.
Open wounds are divided into incised, lacerated, punctured and gunshot wounds. Incised wounds are made by any sharp instrument and have their edges evenly cut. In these wounds there is usually free haemorrhage, as the vessels are cleanly divided. Lacerated wounds are those in which the edges of the wound are torn irregularly. Such injuries occur frequently from accidents with machinery or blunt instruments, or from bites by animals. The hemorrhage is less than from incised wounds, and the edges may be bruised. Punctured wounds are those in which the depth is greater than the external opening. They are generally produced by sharp-pointed instruments. The chief danger arises from puncture of large blood-vessels, or injury to important structures such as occur in the thorax and abdomen. It is also difficult to keep such wounds surgically clean and to obtain apposition of their deeper parts, and septic germs are often carried in with the instrument.
The treatment of incised wounds is to arrest the bleeding (see Haemorrhage), cleanse the wound and its surroundings, removing all foreign bodies (splinters, glass, &c.), and obtain apposition of the cut surfaces. This is usually done by means of sutures or stitches of silk, catgut, silkworm gut or silver wire. If the wound can be rendered aseptic, incised wounds usually heal by first intention. In lacerated wounds there is danger of suppuration, sloughing, erysipelas or tetanus. These wounds do not heal by first intention, and there is consequently considerable scarring. The exact amount of time occupied in the repair depends upon the presence or not of septic material, as lacerated wounds are very difficult to cleanse properly. Carbolic acid lotion should be used for cleansing, while torn or ragged portions should be cut away and provision made for free drainage. It is not always possible to apply sutures at first, but the wound may be packed with iodoform gauze, and later, when a clean granulating surface has been obtained, skin-grafting may be required. In extensive lacerated wounds, where the flesh has been stripped from the bones, where there is spreading gangrene, or in such wounds in conjunction with comminuted fractures or with severe sepsis supervening, amputation of a limb may be called for. Punctured wounds should be syringed with carbolic lotion, and all splinters and foreign bodies removed. The location of needles is rendered comparatively easy by the use of the Röntgen rays; the wound can then be packed with gauze and drained. If a large vessel should have been injured, the wound may have to be laid open and the bleeding vessel secured. Should paralysis indicate that a large nerve has been divided, the wound must also be laid open in order to suture the injured structure.
It is only possible here to mention some of the special characteristics of gunshot wounds. In the modern small-bore rifle (Lee-Metford, Mauser) the aperture of entry is small and the aperture of exit larger and more slit-like. There is usually but little haemorrhage. Should no large vessel be torn, and should no portion of septic clothing be carried in, the wound may heal by first intention. Such bullets may be said to disable without killing. They may drill a clean hole in a bone without a fracture, but sometimes there is much splintering. Abdominal wounds may be so small that the intestine may be penetrated and adhesions of neighbouring coils of intestine cover the aperture. Martini-Henry bullets make larger apertures, while soft-nosed or “dum-dum” bullets spread out as soon as the bullet strikes, causing great mutilation and destruction of the tissues. Shell wounds cause extensive lacerations. Small shot may inflict serious injury should one of the pellets enter the eye. In gunshot wounds at short distance the skin may be blackened owing to the particles of carbon lodging in it. The chief dangers of gunshot wounds are hemorrhage, shock and the carrying in of septic material or clothing into the wound.
WOUWERMAN, PHILIP (1619–1668), Dutch painter of
battle and hunting scenes, was born at Haarlem in May 1619.
He learned the elements of his art from his father, Paul Joosten
Wouwerman, an historical painter of moderate ability, and he
then studied with the landscape painter, Jan Wynants (1620–1679).
Returning to Haarlem, he became a member of its gild
of painters in 1642, and there he died in May 1668. About
800 pictures were enumerated in John Smith’s Catalogue raisonné
(1840) as the work of Philip Wouwerman, and in C. Hofstede
de Groot’s enlarged Catalogue, vol. ii. (1909), the number exceeds
1200; but probably many of these are the productions of his
brothers Peter (1623–1682) and Jan (1629–1666), and of his
many other imitators. His authentic works are distinguished by
great spirit and are infinitely varied, though dealing recurrently
with cavalry battle-pieces, military encampments, cavalcades,
and hunting or hawking parties. He is equally excellent in his
vivacious treatment of figures, in his skilful animal painting,
and in his admirable and appropriate landscape backgrounds.
Three different styles have been observed as characteristic of
the various periods of his art. His earlier works are marked
by the prevalence of a foxy-brown colouring, and by a tendency
to angularity in draughtsmanship; the productions of his middle
period have greater purity and brilliancy; and his latest and
greatest pictures possess more of force and breadth, and are full
of a delicate silvery-grey tone.
See the Catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch and Flemish Painters of the 17th Century, by De Groot, vol. ii. (1909), referred to above.
WRAITH, a general term in popular parlance for the appearance of the spirit of a living person. (See “Phantasms of the
Living,” under Psychical Research.)
WRANGEL, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH ERNST, Count von
(1784–1877), Prussian general field marshal, was born at Stettin,
on the 13th of April 1784. He entered a dragoon regiment
in 1796, became cornet in 1797, and second lieutenant in 1798.
He fought as a subaltern against Napoleon, especially distinguishing
himself as Heilsberg in 1807, and receiving the order pour
le mérite. In the reorganization of the army, Wrangel became
successively first lieutenant and captain, and won distinction
and promotion to lieutenant-colonel in the War of Liberation
in 1813, won the Iron Cross at Wachau near Leipzig, and became
colonel in 1815. He commanded a cavalry brigade in 1821,
and two years later was promoted major-general. He commanded
the 13th Division, with headquarters at Minister, in Westphalia,
in 1834, when riots occurred owing to differences between the
archbishop of Cologne and the crown, and the determination and
resolution with which he treated the clerical party prevented
serious trouble. He was promoted lieutenant-general, received
many honours from the court, enjoyed the confidence of the
Junker party, and commanded successively at Königsberg
and Stettin. In 1848 he commanded the II. Corps of the German
Federal army in the Schleswig-Holstein campaign, was promoted
general of cavalry, and won several actions. In the autumn he
was summoned to Berlin to suppress the riots there. As governor
of Berlin and commander-in-chief of the Mark of Brandenburg
(appointments which he held till his death) he proclaimed a
state of siege, and ejected the Liberal president and members
of the Chamber. Thus on two occasions in the troubled history
of Prussian revival Wrangel’s uncompromising sternness achieved
its object without bloodshed. From this time onwards he was
most prominent in connexion with the revival of the Prussian
cavalry from the neglect and inefficiency into which it had fallen
during the years of peace and poverty after 1815. In 1856,
having then seen sixty years' service, he was made a field marshal.
At the age of eighty he commanded the Austro-Prussian army
in the war with Denmark in 1864 and though he was too old
for active work, and often issued vague or impracticable orders
(he himself had always desired that the young and Brilliant
“Red Prince,” Frederick Charles, should have the command),
the prestige of his name, and the actual good work of Frederick
Charles, Moltke and Vogel von Falckenstein among the Prussian,
and of Gablenz among the Austrian generals, made the campaign
a brilliant success. After the capture of Düppel he resigned
the command, was created a count, and received other honours.
In 1866 “Papa” Wrangel assisted in the Bohemian campaign,
but without a command on account of his great age. He took
a keen interest in the second reorganization of the cavalry arm
1866–1870, and in the war with France in 1870–71. He died
at Berlin on the 2nd of November 1877. On the seventieth
anniversary of his entering the army his regiment, the 3rd
Cuirassiers, was given the title “Graf Wrangel.”
See supplement to Militär. Wochenblatt (1877), and lives by von Köppen and von Maltitz (Berlin, 1884).
WRANGEL, KARL GUSTAV VON (1613–1676), Swedish soldier, was descended from a family of Esthonian origin, branches
