The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-10
MODERN SMALL ARMS.
Character of GunShOt Wounds to BE
Expected in the War.
Dr. Thomas Page Grant in the American
Practitioner and News.


Practitioner and News
From time to time there has appeared in
the press of the country absurd state
ments about the humane" modern small
bore rifle, of the advance that mankind
was making in the use of a rife that
would put the enemy hors du combat with
out killing him or INJECTING any per
manent injury To-day. with war staring
us in the face, the subject of the char
acter of wounds made by modern arms,
which are so essentially and radically diff
ferent from gunshot wounds of civil life.
as well as those of all previous wars be
comes a subject of interest TO the public
as well as the surgeons, and should be
carefully considered, that adequate surgi-
cal and hospital provisions may be made
before hostilities begin. This is the day
of small proieCtiles, shot with greatly in
creased force. for al this time every nation
has equipped les army with guns with a
caliber of less than three-eighths of en-
inch, firing a bullet having a steel or
other hard metal Jacket. The army OF the
United States Is armed with the Krag>
Jorgensen rifle, which shoots a ball 30
of an inch. while our navy have the Lee
rife, shooting a bullet .236 of an inch
which is the smallest bore of any military
rifle now in use. The muzzle velocity of
the army rife is 2,100 feet per second,
while that of the navy gun is 2400 feet
per second. Contrast these guns with those
used during the revolution, when the
American army used musket six feet
long and firing a ball one inch in diam
eter
In addition TO the opportunity for OBJ
serving the effects of the modern equip
ant OFF l1I lrra
and China, and the uprising in India,
there have been a great many experiments
made, both in this country and Europe,
by medical as well as line officers to test
the penetration of the modern small-bole
gun.
Lieut. Col. j. D. Griffith, medical d.
rector in a paper read before the asso-
citation of military surgeons speaking of
the new army rife, says: AT a distance
of ten yards from the muzzle of the rife
its bullet perforated twenty-four inches Of
well-seasoned white oak; at two hundred
yards, it went through forty-fve poplar
planlSs, each an inch thick and one inch
apart; at two thousand yards It perforat-
ed a horses body at the shoulders, and at
the same distance passed through three
human bodies; at twenty-eight hundred
yards il perforated four inches of deal
plank, and at two miles yet retained We
lccity to penetrate the human body"
This experiment was made to determine
the character of the wounds that may be
looked for In future wars with modern
methods of warfare, and were made On
cadavers and live animals, notably horses.
OF course it is impossible to give at this
time even a summary of these experiments
but / wlll mention briefly a few charac-
teristic ones. At seventy-five yards
wound in the leg showed that, while the
thigh was mutilated for about six inches,
1t was not so badly shattered as in a
wound in the same location at fifteen hum
bred yards. In the latter case the bone
was mutilated far more than eight inches,
and very much worse than at the shorter
range Under five hundred yards the
wounds of entrance and exit were gener-
ally but little larger than the bullet, and
did not produce the extensive mutilation
of these made at longer range A shot az
the elbow at five hundred yards made
only a small wound. not fracturing the
bones very badly, while shot at the eli
bow at one thousand yards tore away al
most the entire joint
But in wounds of the cavities of the
body the liberation is fearful; 10 quote
DR.. Griffith "At one thousand yards
wound In the chest under the left nipple,
skin entrance size of bullet-passed through
heart, making fearful wounds of entrance
and exit Gn the hearO, large (torn) wound
in left lung, passing through the lower
part of the scapula shattering this bone
and leaving the wound at exit almost the
same as entrance"
In wounds of the abdomen the injuries
were simply fearful, the explosive action
OF the bullet in this cavity was terrific,
tearing frightful holes in the viscera in
almost every case.
Although the German commission re-
ported that the large vessels were rarely
hit in its experiments, and the small ones
torn;'a the majority of the investigators,
In this country at least, have found that
the large vessels are frequently wounded
and that the wound is clean cut, punched
out as it were and that hemorrhage will
be an important factor in the mortality of
future wars.
In the course of these experiments it was
found that the bullets fired in
10 Old earthworks penetrated In
some instances to the depth Of
thirty-six inches, and were dug
out almost perfect, while those shot into
new earthworks did not go deeper than
sixteen inches, and were twisted and bat
tered out of all shape, thus showing that
a man can with his bayonet in few mo-
ments throw up the best protection that
Is 10 be had in the field against the modern
rife
Surgeon Captain Melville, of the East
India service, is one of the few authorities
who claim that in the future wars there
viii be no increase in the duties of the
medical department, for "he Classics
wounds of the future into. first, slight and
demanding little attention, or, second, Sc
we're and probably fatal He contends
that the proportion of killed TO wounded
will be greater and thus materially les
sen the Iabors of the surgeon" One cannot
fail to be impressed by the grim humor Of
| Surgeon Lieutenant Evans, who, while
serving with the Chitral expedition, wrote:
"All uncompcated wounds healed read
lily, but that there we're no severe bone in
| juries under treatment was due TO the
fact that all men who suffered from frac-
lures of the long bones were dead"
That the casualties for the future wars
will be great there can be no question.
Fisher (Oesterreichische Milltariche Zeit-
schrifD estimates the casualties al from
% to 30 per cent. Of the force engaged,
while other writer's make even higher es-
| tmates Of course, the losses will depend
| largely on the courage of the troops en-
gagged The probabilities are that in naval
battles these estimates will fall short Of
the actual losses. This statement is bas-
ed on the reports of naval battles IN the