Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-12-05
MODERN BULLETS CUT CLEAN.
Wounds Which They Make Easily
Healed Say the Doctors.

Healed Say the Doctors.
The modern military smali-bore
rife. with its armored bullet with a
mantle of steel, copper or nickel, Is the
result of a process of evolution into
the details of which we need not here
enter. The reduction in caliber has
gone on steadily, and 1t Is a question
whether the limit has yet been
reached Italy and Roumania have
adopted calibGr Of no more than .256
inch, the American navy is about to
be armed with rifle of only .205-in2h
caliber, and Kruka and HELLER have
obtained ballistic results with a bullet
of only .l9S-inch caliber, which are I'M
approached by projectiles CT larger
size. Practically now the armies OF all
civilized nations are armed with
weapons whose caliber Is under .315
inches, or 8 nm. In great measure
our knowledge of the surgical results
of this marked reduction of caliber IS
based on theory, or the results or eX-
periments on the bodies of men and
animals. At all times the character OF
n bullet wound depends on the weight,
form, density and velocity Of the pro-
ioctile. and on the hardness or resist
ance of the part hit The compare
lively large, soft bullets of the older
and larger bored rifles, moving at a
relatively moderate velocity, produced
wounds with the character OF which
men are familiar. But the new rifles
of reduced caliber, increased range,
velocity and penetration, with hard
mantled bullets, introduce new factors
of importance from the surgical point
of view. The softer and large-borc
bullets produce wounds characterized
by a broad zone of deViated tissue
about the pOint OF entrance, with a
wound canal lacerated by the easily
deformed ball. extensively splintered
bones, great explosive action, an aper-
ture of exit much lacerated ana gaping
widely. and with relative little hemorr-
hage. In the case of direct hits the
action of the new bullets may be
summed up by saying that they pro
duce clean-cut, slightly lacerated
wounds of the soft parts, exert less
explosive action, and splinter and dis
place bones less, except at short
ranges. Their wounds offer the best
possible conditions for rapid and per-
feet healing, being small, aseptic as
rule, and clean-cut but prone to bleed
freely and at once.
At long ranges, toward the END OF
their flight, these long, thin bullets
tend to somersault, and, by striking
sideways, often produce extensive
splinterlng and communion of bone.
Indirect and ricochet hits with these
new and mantled bullets are espe-
cially to be feared, as contact with
any hard substance is sure to split the
mantle, and the naked and deformed
bullet core then acts like the hollow
point bullets of express rifles. This Is
n factor which may cause protective
works to lose much of their value
when attacked by troops armed with
4 these small Gather rifles. The in
creased explosive action given to the
new bullets by increased velocity Is
more than Count6rbalanced by theil
lesser liability to become deformed
hence, their explosive action Is, on the
whole, less marked and less uniformly
shown than that of the older kind. II
occurs chiefly in the skull and in con
nection with the bones. In respect OF
this action on bones. especially Ions
bones, 1t Is probable that experiments
made on horses. whose bones are much
stronger and more resistant than those
of man. have given us exaggerated
ideas of the effects of the small bullets
on these tissues, but, even so, the eX
tensive assuring and communion are
80 severe that considerable actual eX'
ncrience Is needed before we can be
justified in rcgaining tho new arm Of
small callber as In any way minimiZ
ing the horrors of war.-British Med.
zeal Journal