The Washington herald., 1914-08-16

ed twelve would be killed by shrapnel
| fifteen to twenty wounded by shrapnel
| eight killed by the infantry and SOME
| sixty to sixty-ive wounded Accordine
| TO the old proverb. II still takes. in spite
Of the modern training Of soldiers-ai
least so far as the experience in the
Balkans went-a mans weight in lead
TO kill him. Many millions Of balls were
hred for the thousands wounded and kill
ed
Modern high velocity projectiles make
very different wounds from the old mus
ket balls and even very different sur
gical LESSONS from those that were seen
during the Franco -Prussian war or even
the Russan-Turlish war in 1876. The
modern bullet. with very high initial vel
ocity. produces certain serious conse-
quences never seen before It's power for
harm is simply enormous. The average
ball from one of the new modern rifles
viii at 800 metres distance, tha- IL nearly
two-hfths Of 4 mile, pass through three
men. 1t win penetrate a single man at a
distance OF 500 metres, that Is nearly a
mile. At more than a mile II will pass
through the skull. making clean wounds
of entrance and exit in both bony plates
1t can produce a serious, even a fatal
wound Of the sbdominaI region at a dis
tance of $500 meters that is considerably
ulOEe lndn Two miles. rOTLunAIelY, ONl0K
to the circumstances OF modern war IL
is usually at these rather long distances
that the wounds are produced. When the
combatants are at shorter range the ef-
fects are often awful to contemplate.
Injuries of Great Extent.
The awful penetrating power Of the
modern bullet will be very well realized
from some Of the incidents described by
Prof. Laurent in his account Of the sur
gerry Of the Bulgarian campaigns. In
cases where soldiers. in order TO protect
themselves from the enemy's volleys
were directed to lie down, some Of them
were wounded in the shoulders and the
wounds of exit for the bullets we're often
below the knees in the legs In spite Of
the long course OF such a wound, i'm
portant organs and the internal viscera
were sometimes found to have been
spared or practically so, and some of
those wounded recovered completely.
Such wound has been known to remain
antiseptic and to heal promptly, permit
ting the soldier to go back to duty in the
course Of a few weeks.
The higher the velocity Of the bullet
the greater the injury produced. From
300 to 500 meters. that is, at distances of
from 1000 feet TO a little more than q
quarter OF a mile. the explosive effects
projectile covered with the steel casing
when its velocity suddenly tends to be
arrested takes on an explosive action.
which tears soft tissues TO pieces and
communities bones. The lead itself ac-
tually seems almost to be melted at
times in this process. and is scattered
through neighboring tissues in a rather
finely divided state.
Lessons DIticuIt to Heal.
Almost needless to say, such wounds
are extremely dIficult to heal. They take
a long time Cor the tissues TO recover
from the intense shock to which they
have been subjected, and in the meantime
they furnish many opportunities for the
invasion OF infectious elements of any
kind that may happen to be present IN
the neighborhood. The wounds are sell
dom infected at the moment they are
made, but infection readily occurs after
ward, and is often very serious IL not
fatal
Portions of The Uranium were blown
away entirely and there was sometimes
an almost absolute emptying of the skull
cavity Of its brain substance. The brain
itself actually geemed to blow up by
sort of hydrodynamic action and be scat
tered entirely outside the Uranium.