The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-08-25
Chances ia Battle.

or " Brown Bess,' as II was popularity
nicknamed. the chances Of a mans being
hit DIV q bullet were slight. II has been
esti mated that Ia Wellington's campaign
i'm Spain II took eight hundred bullets 70
kill one man. but much OF this waste o.
lead and powder was due 20 carelessness
snd ignorance on the part OF the men
some fired so high that the balls went
over the heads Of the enemy. others so
low that they went into the gropno-
Even in our OWE recent war. VIII greatly
improved firearms, the numHe OF Kllie,
and wounded was very small compaie1
with the immense number OF Shots nreo-
Mr.. Francis Gallon, IN hls recen' "oFk
on hereditary genius presents some Gu.
rious calculations "a 10 a mans cnance O
being struck by bulsets n a hatile. IL
man differs from another IN helgnt shu
in width, therefore, the chance OF the one
IS compared with that OF the other varies
as the sectional area of his BODY Is
TO say, as his height mulfiplen INTO ms
average breadth. But this is NOT tDe
whole truth. and Mr.. Cation admits II Tor
large men sre more lisely to be MT hot
merely on account Of the greater area OF
their bodies, but also on account OF men
being more conspicuous from their size,
and, therefore, being more hkeiy 10 Oe
singled ont as a mark. The principle 0.
" natural selection" on the part Of the
enemy's bullets, here into opeIa
ton. snd Mr. Cation e%DdeavOrs to correct
his estimate of chances by taking the
weight of the man Into account. II ism
easy to nerceive the force Of this mode OK
REASONING. but the result OF il L, that the
chance of a mans being accidentally
shot in battle is as the square
root Of the product OF his height
multiplied into his weight. Thus, SUP
posine q man to be 225 pounds in nelght,
and six feet two and 4 half inches
HON ne Will escape h1n ClHi-N0 -
Tor only JwU yOo4s, -fhh- a. OF w
pounds weight, and five feet slN lnChes
high, would escape for three. Ire totai
relative chances sgainst being shot 40 pat
tie of two, men OF these respective helgots
and weights are as three to one I'D laVor
of the smaller man, IN respect TO accl-
dental shots, and IN a decidedly more
favorable proportion IN respect TO dlrect
aim. tne latter chance being compounded
Of the two following: First, a better
hone of not being aimed at, and. second
ly. a hore. very little less than three 70
two of not being hit when made the %
ject of an aim.
had Nelson been a large man, lns1eso
of q mere feather weight, = Is probable
that he would not have survived SO long
the extraordinary dangers he encountered
In the course of five years he took part
IN q buod-ed and twenty actions at ses,
including the battles 81 cape 81 Vincent
and the Nile. and in them he lost an arm
M an exe He was ultimately killed at
Tra,aIgar (afIer escaping desth at C"Pen-
baoan1 nv one of many shots aimed dl-
rectlv al rim by q Tifleman In the maln-
- ~ he Ere3ch ship with which has
oarp vvas closely ENGAGED; hut Il should
o,,ho enc time he aided that, on this
occasion he greatly increased the chances
AGAINST him, by passing the quarter ueeh
in full uniform, with allEis metals s.Noi-
ders fastened on his breast. When ne
famous Marshal Soult visited England, d
story appeared in the newspapers To the
effect that some English veteran hsd ne
clared the nero must bear a charmed NE
he Ghe soldier) had covered him WIZ
his rife upwards Of thirty times, q ye'
never hit him. Ii is not At all surprls'
thst the uneducatea believe some men
IN bear charmed lives, waen We lemem-
her NaDoleon NJ the bridge 81 Loci. ano
AGAIN ~ ArcOia, whore, II IS 81 G"wb
in history, the Austrian artillery sweep
OIL ey,ry Dadg but himself yet he leo lhe
way across the bridge unharmea-'hooSN
the crane rattled IN a perfect hsll sl9ibt
around him. Tn satRe may be sa'd q
Wellmptan at Waterloo, whore It's re-
ported. that every man OF his staf Was
aitaer killed or WOUNDED, and he hoo iors
while f. do their work until oihers couiu
he brought ap from the olher end oi the
line. ne escaping ali the while untouched
Many more instances o. such exceptions
from the havoc going on al around can oe
found IN history, but these are two re-
mslkahle cases, familiar Ia most people.
In will be found tha the mag ~ ot Oh
Gers of the higher Z aides survive nVt
on,v one but many battles. Mr. 6ahon
estimates thi~ mai ,rity at q Per cent but
ms dpures do not besr cut his theory.
He has selected a list Oh thiiiy 40 on inc
most emin, Mt commanders; out 81 thes
only seven died on the battle neld "hloh
wo5ld make the proportion e per cent
IN uast formidable enemies al army has
are Camp fever, privatlon, o~ForIsusoe
and too great exposure Ia heat n cold,
and damn. and the enclosures OF the
men Tn sc XIII three times as many rs
the bullet does and yet the bullet Kills It's
thousands. notwithstanding the large
chances in favor OF the escape of any M
aividual soldier.-PbdGdopbia LeGg0.