Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-01-30
a STRIKING NARRATIVE.
How the Wind of "A Cannon Ball Can
Wound and Bruise,

Wound and Bruise.
| Sir Robert Rawlinson, X c. B.. sends
US the following striking narrative:
! ''On the morning of the 10th of June,
| 1855. | was riding in company with some
military officers on their way TO the
/ trenches before Sebastopol. and enter
| ing the ravine 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 42-pound Rus
! sian 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 arm. l
had i. my right-hand trousers pocket
small leather purse with a steel rim to it
and little silver in it. This 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 abdo-
men, and that l was cut in two. l
tainted and my wound bIed copiously,
and | was taken to the nearest tenn
pOrary hospital. Now, as to the wind of
this shot. 1t could have had nothing
to do with my wound As eX-
planned, the shot traverSed across the
abdomen and met with nothing solid
but the purse and money in my pocket,
and the contact 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 pelvis.
And remember. 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,
could the wind perform this freak? The
full front force OF this shot, Of only 1000
feet per second, would have a striking
power of about 40. 600 pounds, but. can
noning on me in front, the force or blow
might be only equal to a severe blow by
4 man striking below the belt If this
shot had passed over any more solid pOr-
ton of the body, as the head or the
back, sudden death would have been
the result; but as it barely touched the
clothes upon the abdomen the effect was
leSSened. At all events, | was severely
wounded by forty-two 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 l am
now alive TO tell the tale
\ medical correspondent quotes Prof.
Sir I. Longmore upon the matter thus:
The true explanation of the appearances
presented in those cases which were
formerly called wind Commissions" APP
pears to rest in the peculiar direction or
degree of obliquity with which the
missile has happened to impinge against
the yielding and elastic skin, together
with the position of the internal organs
injured between this missile and other
hard substances in their neigh borhood.
The surface itself is not directly torn or
cut into because the impact of the pro-
jectile has not been sufficiently direct to
effect an opening; but the parts beneath
are crushed by the pressure to which
they have been subjected between the
combined influence of the weight and
momentum of the shot on one side and
some hard resisting substance on the
other. There are no cases ! have seen
or read of, our CORES pondent adds, that
can not be satisfactorily explained on
the theory given above.-Pan Mall
Gazette.