Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-06-26
SMALL BULLET WOUNDS,

Tho Deadly Effects of Modern ProJectiles
Upon tho Human Body.
The celebrated English surgeon, Pro
fessor Victor HorSlcy, read very in
teresting paper before the Royal insti-
tuition on the effect of modern small
projectileS, In the course of his remarks
he said: Some people SOON to think
that a small bullet ut n very high speed
will pierce the tissues of the body with
out doing much general damage. This,
however, Is erroneous. The bullet hur-
RIGS forward with it particles of the
Substance through which it is passing,
and thus practically becomes n larger
projectilc. If bullet be fired through
a book, it cuts out disks of increasing
diameter rs it travcrses the pages.
Hence, too, it is plain that the greater
the sectional area tho greater the dam
age. AS to tho heating Of tho bullet, II
has certainly been much exaggerated,
and it's effects. If indeed it has any,
may be safely neglected.
1.-The physical constitution Of body
has most important bearing upon the
behavior of bullet entering it. Why
does a bullet of certain size and travel
ing at certain rate simply pcrforate
some substances, such as wood or iron,
while in others, such as clay, brain,
ETC., it exercises bursting and disrup-
tive action? The answer is quite sim
pie; the destructive effects vary direct
ly as the viscosity of the body.
''This was established by some remark
able researches ON the effects of bullets
on soft tissues made by Huguier after
he had observed the results of the
wounds inflicted in the fighting in Paris
in 1913. He suggested, from observa-
tons made ON certain dead organs, such
as lungs, that the reason of the great
lateral disturbance was that the tissues
contained water in large quantity, and
that the energy of tho moving projeo-
tile being impaired to tho particles Of
water caused tho dispersion of these in
O hydro-dynamic fashion
''This suggestion was shown to be cor
rect by Kocher i'll 1916. If O shot be
fired through two tin canisters of equal
other Of Wet it will simply perforate
the former. but cause the latter to burst
explosively. In the same way shots fired
into dough have more or less descriptive
effect according to the percentage Of
water in the dough, and in general the
more fluid the substance the greater the
destruction.
''Now, in life tho brain is u more or
less fluid body, though in state of rigoi
mortis it is practically q solid, owing
to coagulation of tho blood and proto-
plasm. Hence q shot fired into the
skull must have O descriptive effect and
tend to burst it |"
THE speed OF the Earthquake was the
subject of recent scientific lecture by
Professor Lancaster. He proved that the
average speed Of transmission OF the shock
II Il, 600 feet per second.
Sir Robert Hall has settled a question
that astronomers have been In doubt about
for many yeafn. Sir Robert Is an eminent
English astronomer, and In q recent lecture
In Leeds no einphatically asserted that the
planet Mars u inhabited. Creatures Of
some sort, he says, live on that distant
world.
MF. Bissell In New Haven.
WASHINGTON, juno 90. - Postmaster
General Bissell il In New Haven to attend
the reunion OF the Yale class of 1869, of
which he IL q member.