Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-04-04
TIE WIND OF CANNON BALLS.

The WIND OF CANNON BALLS.
"The times have been, IN
Tnat when the brains were out the man would die,
ard there an end but now, they rise again,
Win twenty mortal murders on.their crowns,
ana push rs from our stools"
So with the superstitions of sailors and SOL
diers. They have more lives than cats Il.
The brains have been knocked out of this
one many times, but here it comes again.
Colonel Russell fails dead in the cannon ade q
az Roanoke; nc wound Is found upon his
body; ergo, ssy the soldiers, he was killed by
s7rteon.
The wind Of q cannon ball never hurts any.
body, fer many reasons, the first Of which Is,
that there is no such Q thing.
The air displaced by the ball closes instantly
behind 1t, but has no lateral effect
This Is proved in various ways, but Is placed
beyond cayil or question by the common oc-
currences in every severe cannonade. For
instance, the dispatch just received from Fort
Donelson says |" q shot struck the pilot house
Of the st. Louis, passing through it, between
the pilots legs, without injuring him" Why
did not the wind of that ball at least bark his
shins1
The fact is that military surgery abounds in
cases which prove that cannon balls pass in
grazing contact with all parts Of mans body
and never do the slightest harm, except on the
parts actually struck. They have smashed
clean through hats and helmets, rasine the
hair; they have cut of ears close to the skull,
arms close to the side, one thigh close to the
other, and yet the adjacent parts are left as
sound as ever.
An instance is given Of heavy shot striking
rank Of marching men in the flank taking
of the right leg of the first, of the third, and
of the fifth man, Of course passing between the
legs Of the others. and yet the left legs of the
wounded men were uninjured, and the other
men knew nothing absut it. According to the
ly injured.
But how account for the death of men in &C.
ton whose skins are unbroken, save by the
wind theory!
Easily, as thus The vital internal organs
hoat, as 1t were, in yielding medium Press
your hand into the pit of a mans stomach
slowly, and you may displace the organ with
out any pain or injury; but plant a swift blow
there with your fist, and you double the man
up with pain; perhaps XIII him outright; but
there will not be the slightest outward mark.
Hence, in boxing, blow below the belt is in.
deed foul
Press hard upon a mans left side, and the
elasticity Of the ribs, aided by the elastic car
tilages at each end, allows great depression to
De mde-consequently the heart and lungs to
De pushed aside; and yet every thing comes
back TO Its place withsut pain er injury; but a
swift blow over the same part with club or a
fall from a house upon hard substance, NAV
fracture the ribs, drive the sharp, broken
points through the membranes, or even para
iyse the heart and kill the man outright,
without leaving blemish on the skin.
Standing once in the bow of q vessel as she
bore down upon a hostile battery, my eyes
caught the first fash Of a cannon, and quick er
than one ceuld wink twice the BALI came
crashing through the bulwarks and smote
down comrade, before my ear caught the re.
port, which he, alas, was too far gone to hear.
A twelve pound shot struck him full upon the
Pelvis; but being partly spent in splintering
the wood, its force was further broken by his
oo0y, and it fell to the deck with him No
blood Was drawn, but the internal parts were
80 smashed that he was hardly got down the
cockpit alive.
Soldiers and sailors have other superstitions
about spent balls. The old soldier loves to re-
tail them to the recruit, upon whom he looks
down As sophomores do upon freshmen, or as
our regular officers do upon volunteers, and
with as little reason, few Of them ever having
seen such hard fighting, for the Mexican war
was but sort Of dress campaign against q
poor, weak enemy, in the whole Of which
there was less blood shed than in Napoleonic
skirnish The old soldier, say, will tell you
Of the greenhorn, who, seeing q spent ball Just
moving on the ground, tried to stop il with his
foot, but had il cut clean of instanter The
fact Is, q cannon ball, partly spent, ricochets
and rolls with just the same force as though il
nA4 OOon NOAAou W HAN udnQ, ana no
more: The force depends upon its weight and
velocity Of course.
Mortal wounds, however, without bloodshed
or breach Of the skin, are not commonly made
byspent balls, but those having great velocity
and according to my theory they should be
more frequent by smooth bore than by rihed
cannon.
The balls rotate swiftly on the axis as they
fy, and in directions according to the force
acting upon them as they leave the gun
Now take g. pound shot and hold ii before
q mans thigh, on the outside, or before his
ribs, in such wise that if you push it forward,
and he stands firm, the ball will pass by rea.
con Of his flesh yielding, one inch that is, BY
being pressed inHards one inch. The ball will
thus have moved through space before occu.
pied by the flesh, or bone, because IL passed
slowly, or the parts yielded, and no harm ID
done But If that same man is standing firmly,
and that same 32-pound shot, rushing swift a.
lightning, strikes him in the same direction, il
may roll over the skin without breaking it,
but may, nevertheless, dash it inward with
such sudden shock as to paralyge its vital
action, and even crush the bone.
JoVe's thunderbelt could not strike man
dead more suddenly, or leave less scars.
Sometimes il is found the internal parts are
ruptured, marked, and even pummelled to a
jelly, though there were no outward marks
Generally, however, the discoloration shows
itself plainly en- the surface in a short tims
after death.
War has real terrors enough and q moyina
cannon ball is a fearful missile but we should
get nd Of all superstitions about il.
AN ELoPEKEsT.-A day or two since mar
and woman put up at one Of our excellent city