The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-25
THE MAUSER BULLET.
How Wounds Made from IL Differ
from the Old Kind.

How Wounds Made from IL Oiner
from the Old Kind.
Ever since the Mauser bullet was in
vented and so generally adopted by the
different nations of the civilized world,
men who follow the military and sur
gical professions have been anxious for
an opportunity to study it in a practical
application such as war alone affords.
Col. j. Herbert Stevens. q physician
and surgeon who has been in Cuba
many months. has observed the effects
of this bullet He says there is no
hope for the soldier who stands behind
q tree for protection when this bullet Is
used, for it passes through the trunk of
tree with as much apparent ease as
1t would through a cheese. Men struck
BY Mauser bullets have been known TO
continue fighting to the end of the bat
tie, even after they had received what
is generally supposed TO be mortal
wound. In almost every case this bull
let passes clear through the victims
body. and the wound OF exit is usually
no larger than that of entrance.
The old-fashioned bullet usually
whirled round and round, tearing the
tissues, arteries, muscles and flesh, and,
il coming in contact with a bone, shat
tering it in splinters. The wound Of
exit, too, would generally be large
enough to insert mans fist
Whenever a man was hit in the arm
or leg by one Of these bullets il was
almost always necessary TO perform
amputation, if the victim did not die
beforehand from helnorrhage. With
the Mauser bullet all this is said to be
different.
Experience in the Cuban war has
demonstrated that only very infre-
quently does wound caused by a
Mauser bullet result in hemo-rhage
which might be fatal, except where one
of the great arteries has been torn or
severed.
A case in point may be cited: A
Cuban soldier was shot through the
right lung-a wound which, II caused
by an ordinary bullet. would be consid-
cred fatal-but the Cuban went on
fighting for two hours after knowing
he had been hit. There was practically
no hemorrhage, and. with such surgical
treatment as could be given him. even
in the very limited hospital departments
of his army, he was up and about in
eight days after the battle.
Another remarkable cIse is that of a
man who was shot through the leg, be-
low the knee. The bullet passed through
the flesh, muscles and bone, and yet the
man kept on fighting Ger some hours
after receiving the wound. not realizing
that he was seriously injured. After
the battle he was attended 10 by a sur
geon. 1t was found that the bone had
not been splintered. and there was no
hemorrhege, and in Il very few days the
soldier " as up and about with his COM
patriots.
If this wound haI been made by an Or
binary bullet it would very probably
have "mrshroomed" and torn the It's
sues. arteries and flesh and splintered
the bones. necessi,ating amputation.
The use of the Mauser bullet by the
Spanish, perhaps, accounts for the very
small mortality In the ranks OF the in
surgepts. and it AZ because the latter
use the old-fashioned bullets, and al
most any kind of irea-m they can get
hold of. that they wreak havoc with the
Spanish whenever hey come together
in an OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Herald.