The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-02

EFFECT OF MAUSER BULLETS.
Medical Expert Writes of the Span
ish weapon.
From the Philadelphia Press.


From the Philadelphia Press,
A noteworthy review of the effects of
the Mauser rifle bullets has just appeared
in the Philadelphia Medical Journal from
its war correspondent The opinions are
of especial interest, as bearing on the dis
puted question, whether the bodies of the
United States marines, recently killed at
Camp AcCalla, in Cuba, were mutilated
by Spanish soldiers, as was declared, or
were it possible for the bullets from the
Mauser rifle to cause such frightful
wounds. The Medical Journal states that
ut is well known that the destructive ef-
feet of these bullets varies very much at
different ranges and depends a good deal
upon the part of the body struck. Speak
ing generally, and supposng the range of
the bullet to be 1900 yards, its effect in the
first and last 600 yards is much more de-
structive than in the intervening 600 yards.
This difference is explained as follows:
In the first 500, the bullet has a motion
around its long axis, in addition to the
twisting motion given by the rife, and
it is this double motion which does the
tearing. In the second 60 0yards the bullet
goes straight and does not take on the sec
ondary rotary motion until il enters the
third zone and begins to lose its force.
These phenomena are observed when "a,
top is spun. In the first few seconds 1t
has the double rotary motion, which grad
ually disappears, and it spins straight I'M
til it begins to lose its force, and as it
runs down 1t takes on the double rotary
motion again.
There are some very interesting facts
in connection with the explosive effect
of bullets in the report by Lieut.. Benet
of the army whose experiments were
performed upon the cadaver at
ranges of from 50 to 1000 yards. He states
that the zone of explosive effect was OBJ
served to extend to $50 yards with 30
caliber bullets. These effects, however,
were noted almost exclusively when the
bullet was found to have been badly de-
formed with its Jackets wholly or par
TALLY stripped off. These explosive eff
fects up to the distance quoted We're rot
found, however, when the muscular parts
alone were struck. In the joints and soft
parts, the wounds inflicted by the small
caliber bullet were less severe and Iar-
took of the nature of simultaneous
wounds In this connection Habart says:
THE bloodVessels are seldom torn and
are not closed so easily by coagulation as
those severed by leaden projectles. The
latter are more apt to bruise and lacerate
the bloodvessels, facilita ting thereby the
formation of trombi. On account of the
smaller aperture in the skin and soft
parts the wounds bleed generally less than
those made by the soft leaden bullets;
lation."
Generally speaking, the effects noted at
1000 yards are more severe than in the pre-
cedlng ranges in the zone of perforatiOn.
1t is an interesting fact that small cali
Der bullets seldom stop in the body, and
at certain ranges the stopping effect of
the bullet is surprisingly small. This was
noted by the French observers In the Da-
honey war, where the Lebel bullet did not
by any manner of means, always stop the
rush of the enemy, and often severe
wounds from these small bullets did not in
capacitate for further fighting The dos-
LructjVe eject of a small bullet very large
ly depends upon whether it is deformabe,
as an u Ceforma0le Duiet has much loss
stopping effect than deformable one, and
is consequently much less efficient al short
range. Lieut.. Benat saye that 1t is prlnci-
paly at close ranges, Z from ten to fifteen
meters. ;Ilat the frightful destructive pow
er OF the bullet Is observed, and this des-
tructive quality depends upon the part of
the body struck. For large bones, the brain
and the stomach the distance is less than
for parts like the heart or the bladder dis
tended with blood or urine Beyond 800 me-
tiers it was found that typical LESSONS were
exceptional. In speaking of the zone of
loss of substance 1t may be noted that
certain tissues, for instance the skin and
the muscles do not offer favorable condi-
lions to explosive action.
1t seems that they are perforated by a
hlgh-velocity bullet as with a punch and
suffer a loss Of substance, bearing a re-
lation to the caliber OF the bullet In its
rapid passage the bullet carries away
everything that has opposed it, not allow
ing the elasticity of the tissues time to
enter INTO action, and it is it's resistance 10
reformation and its velocity that give IL
in the soft tissues and the epiphyses of the !
bone a perforating action up 10 as high as
800 meters. For jacHeted small caliber bull !
let's, three zones can generally be distin- |
guished-eXplosion, perforation and contu-
sion, when the soft parts and bones are
considered The first, or explosive zone, IS !
very limited for soft tissues, but for the
diaphyses and skull it has a somewhat
greater extent, and the characteristics of
wounds received in this zone are that the
orince of entrance is usually small and Of
ten torn. The opening of the exit is wide
and jagged, with large cutaneOus and mus |
cular threads, and there is a conical chan
mel whose walls are formed by the tissues, |
torn and crushed as if burst from an enor- |
nous pressure acting from within outward. I
In this connection it seems that there |
could be no difficulty in determining |
whether the mutilation of the bodies of |
our marines was caused by bullets or by /
Spanish brutality, and one can scarcely |
believe that the surgeon quoted in a
New York journal could have confused |
wounds caused from the inside by the |
explosive power of the bullet with any |
wounds made from the outside by a ma
chete or otherwise. Many explanations /
have been advanced for the frightful |
character of the wounds from the mod.
ern. small-calber bullet The most like |
" explanation is that known as the /
theory of confusion, which Is briefly as /
follows: The greater the velocity OF the |
bullet, the more At acts as punch. Elas@ |
tic and resisting tissues offer a momen, |
iary obstacle TO the passage Of the bullet. |
These are thrown aside and traversed, but /
not without having suffered a shock that |
is propagated to a considerable distance /
Each stoppage of the bullet by either q |
resisting or an elastic part however short |
or instantaneous allows the velocity of
rotation to exercise more completely it's
effect upon the same point and SO 10 in