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Show HEu-1'l.X JUIL. THE TtXTII.K 111 Ml' HAS UIlKAT ItX BISTI!U IUIICE. ITS LATK3T U8K. Herr Dowo appoan by tlio beat account! eltlior to havu copied or, what la moru probable, to hnvu reinvented rein-vented a garmcut mado originally by Herr Harueo, an Austrian engineer, who ollered It lo his own war cilice, which, after llio manner of Austria, examined, sniffed at ami finally neglected neg-lected Ihe discovery. The garment is, It la reported, a light shirt ol mall, ruadeofwlru lings fastened upon au inner skin composed uf hemp drlvcu Into n thick nnd coinpiot substance bycxcesalvo 1 unsure, says tho Sjea-talor. Sjea-talor. Hie shift, owing to Us elasticity, la Impenetrable to auy tlllu now uied, tho bullet lulling Irom It flattened or In lucf, anil this ut a distance of a hundred yards. Tho blow lnflloled by Ihe weight of tho bullet la, cf comae, tremendour, to euveru that It la doubtful If tho Irontoftho leg can bu protected from fracture, uny moru than It could be from thu kick of a horse; but over thu body the hemp doia not break the sliln, nnd thu soldier bo hit, thcugli he might be knocked scnseleei for lhu moment, mo-ment, would survive as nu uuwoutidod man. The hemp, In fact, gives wuy to the impact of lhu bullet without trar-Ingluatna trar-Ingluatna a bag of rutin! does, nnd, so to speak, lets the force of the blow through without letting the bullet lleelf. Thero Is nothing In (his beyond probablllly,thorealatlng force of textile fibers llko hemp or silk being well known and their tenacity tested at sea la another direction almost every hour. The extent of the protection must not bo exaggerated, for (ho blow endured would be terrible, Juat as Ike blow received by un armored knight from a heavy mace was terrible, und tho covering mutt hu Incomplete, the face remaining ex-poieil; ex-poieil; but still tboahlrt, or cuirass, would Imnieunly reduce thu mortality Irom line Ure perhaps, If aulllclontly thick pads of the material eould bo worn 011 the legs, would lessen It to tho exlontof three-fourths. liulltls fired from any dlitance lilt llio head comparatively seldom, nnd tho bayonet, which would be turned like the bullet la practically never aimed at lhu face. With certain Improvements Im-provements aura to bo Introduced, 1 epeclslly as regards weight, the stull might prove an efiectlvo defense to Infantry, even aa dress might revive tho auolent prsclke of carrying shields, still In u 10 among the warrior races of Asia, and might materially atfict the fate of campaign!. |