Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-30
The Wind Of a Cannon Ball.

Sir Robert Rawlinson, K. G. B.,
sends us the following striking mar
rative:
''On the morning of the tenth Of
June, 1856, I was riding in company
with some military officers on their
way to the trenches before Sebastopol,
and entering the rayine known as The
Valley of the Shadow of Death, when
in the act of turning round to go back
was swept down with my horse by q
42-pound Russian steel shot. The shot
passed in front of me, from left to
right, cutting the reins out of my left
hand and passing through the thin
jacket under my right arm. I had in
my right hand trousers pocket small
leather purse with steel rim to it and
little silver in it. The purse bruised
the strong cloth of the pocket and my
flannel shirt, as also the crest of the
pelvis. My own impression was that
the shot had struck me full in the alb
domen, and that I was cut in two. I
tainted and my wound bIed copiously,
and l was taken to the nearest tempo
rary hospital. Now, as to the wind of
this shot. 1t could have had nothing to
do with my wound. As explained, the
shot travelled across the abdomen and
met with nothing solid but the purse
and money in my pocket, and the con-
tact was sufficient to break the strong
cloth of the pocket under the purse
not above 1.-THE flannel shirt, and the
flesh and bone of the pelyis. And re-
member, SO slight must have been the
touch of the shot ON my clothes that they
were not abraded or marked; the thin
summer coat being perforated, but the
outer edge not broken. How could the
wind perform this freak? The full
front force Of this shot, if only 1000
feet per second, would have striking
power of about 10000. pounds; but,
cannoning on me in front, the force or
blow might be only equal to severe
blow by man striking below the belt.
If this shot had passed over any more
solid portion of the body, as the head
or the back, sudden death would have
been the result; but as it barely touch
ed the clothes upon the abdomen the
effect was lessened. At all events, I
was severely wounded by 42-pound
round shot, and most certainly not by
the wind Of it; and by reason of the
grand surgery OF the late Sir James
Ferguson I am now alive to tell the
tale.
A medical correspondent quotes
Prof. Sir T. Longmore upon the mat
ter thus: The true explanation of the
appearances presented in those cases
which were formerly called wind con-
tusions" appear to rest in the peculiar
direction or degree of obliquity with
which the missile has happened to i'm
| pinge against the yielding and elastic
skin, together with the position Of the
internal organs injured between this
missile and other hard substances in
their neighborhood. The surface it.
self is not directly torn or cut into. be-
cause the impact of the projectile
has not been sufficiently direct to
effect an opening; but the parts
beneath are crushed by the pressure tc
| which they have been subjected be
tween the combined influence of the
weight and momentum OF the shot or
one side and Of some hard resisting
substance on the other. There are nc
cases have seen or read Of, our cor,
| respondent adds, that cannot be salts
factorily explained on the theory giyer
i above. Pail M : Gazette.