The age-herald., 1898-07-05
EVOLUTION OF
 THE BULLET
From the Boston Herald.


 border fights is not likely to be seen in the war with Spain; not on the Spanish side, anyhow. It was this headlong rush of men, with foam on their lips and insane excite ment in their eyes, that the mercifui bullet of civilized troops failed to stop. The mad- dened Indian hillmen would still come on after being hit in several places by the small bullet that could bore through three. men without killing one. It was this ina bility to stop these frightful rushes of sav- age fighters that led to the adoption of what is called the .dum-dum" bullet.
 To trace the evolution of the rifle pro- jectile from the spherical bullet with which the soldiers of Napoleon and Wellington fought to the conicaI bullet that our troops at the front will carry in their cartridge belts, it is well to begin with a period short- ly antedating the Crimean war. when the conical bullet was introduced. Its superb ority over the spherical form was at once apparent as it gave greater range and penetration The "Minie" was the first outcome of this new invention, followed by the Enfield, = muzzle-oadng rife of considerable power, throwing conical bull let, solid in front. with hollow in the base, which caused the lead to expand and take the growing of the rifle. So far the bullets were solid, and caused much the same class of wound as the spherical bullet
 When the Prussians adopted the needle gun with which they conspicuously de- feated the Austrians, the English govern ment was forced into arming it's troops with a -breech-loader and adopted the Sni- der principle of breech action, which had this great advantage that it was feasible to convert the Enfelds in stock into breech- loaders. With the introduction of the Sni- der changes were made in the bullet. A hollow filled by a plug of wood clay, was introduced into the front part of the bullet and the base was also hollowed and plugged, diaphragm of solid lead being left in the center. This was most deadly projectile, the plug in front expanding the bullet on impact and causing terrible in- juries to solid parts and bones.
 The next step was to form a hollow in the front, over which the lead was |'drawn," leaving space filled with air; then came a solid portion of lead, and finally a hollow in the base plugged with clay. This was more deadly bullet than the previous one, and it's smashing pow CTS were so great that it was adopted for sporting purposes. On soft-bodied ani- mals, such as tigers and partners, its ef- fects were wonderful, the biggest tiger often dropping dead to single shot when well placed. This form of Snider bullet, though called expanding" was really ex- plosive, it's bursting power probably being due to the air it contained being greatly impressed on striking, acting like small charge of powder exploded by the impact.
 The bullet was far more deadly to man and animals than anything that had be- fore been invented, excepting, of courses ''explosive' bullets. The bullet that ore soldiers, as well those of Spain, are not allowed to use-the Geneva conventioa having legislated against it-was terribA projectile This bullet was cast in tive parts, the base something like thimble with a flat top, the apex conical, with hollow leading down from the point. The base or thimbe-shaped end, was nearly filled with ordinary powder, then a piece of thin cloth was laid over the top, the apex was fitted in, and the two parts were then ''swagged together in a machine. There was thus formed a conical bullet, gener- ally a 12-bore Chat is, a bore that took spherical bullet of 12 to the pound), with a charge of powder in the base, thin diaphragm and hollow leading to it from the point Down this hollow detonating powder was poured and the hole closed with wax This was a typical form of ex-
  fleets.
 The Snider bullet, though not strictly an ''expIosive" bullet, because in it's latter form equivalent to one, but 1t was never forbidden in war.
 The next advance was the Martni-Henry rifle with a hardened projectile of 45O di- ameter-the Snider was 0.577-with greatly increased velocity and penetration and much lower trajectory. This bullet was complained of as not having stopping pow ,e { thrOuph the limbs the body without causing immediate col lapse unless some vital part or important bone was struck. In white mans warfare this was of comparatively little conse- ouence, as civilized beings are much more susceptible to injury than savages As a rule when a white man is wounded he has had enough, and is quite ready to drop out of the ranks and go to the rear; but the savage like the tiger, is not so impression able and will go on fighting even when desperately wounded. The Martini-Henry was in use for many years, but was at length superseded by the Lee-Metford, the present military rife of Great Britain. This rifle has a bore of only O.3 inch, the bullet being of lead, surrounded by a jacket or covering of nickel, and, fired with smoke less powder, gives very high velocity with a very low trajectory and immense penetration.
 It was found during experiments with the Lee -Metford that on firing into dead ani- maj the bones were frequently comminuted to an extraordinary degree, though on oth- CT occasions the bullet merely drilled hole in passing through. This was the ex- perience of the British troops in India, and. while in some cases terrible wounds were inflicted, in others little or no damage was done. There is the well-known instance of the "Chtrallee," who walked into one of the field hospitals to have his wounds dressed, when it was found that no fewer than five Lee-Metford bullets had passed through various parts of his body.
 The men felt that their weapons failed in "stopping" power, and that, though they might hold straight and hit their adver- sary fairly, he was still able to charge home and perhaps cut them down.
 Some experiments were then made at the "dunl-dun'' ordnance factory near Calcut- ta when it was found that by leaving a small portion of the lead at the apex of the projectile uncovered the bullet ''set up'' or mushroomed soon after impact and in- ficted sufficient shock to stop the most determined Ghazi. This was effected by