| Show MODERN ARE AIRE TERRIBLE I 1 I 1 the most assiduous care having been bestowed upon the selection of men lor for a and the most minute precautions taken for removing all risk of e epidemics id em acs ics it Is necessary to examine the nature of the wounds produced by weapons of war and arrange the measures ures necessary fr for minimizing their effect in vp th science of war weapons are divided aided vided into two categories offensive and defensive noie weapons consist of pieces ceo of metal protecting the body ot of ive weapons are cold steel and firearms M the arms of defense are the helmet and cuirass the latter does not afford ford protection against modern 11 firearms it still less must it big b supposed atiat there I 1 em can be any safety afforded by br certain eloth cloth recommended by a 4 german tailor of which so much was waa said five or six years ago cold steel as used in war to is represented by the saber bayonet lance and sword the weapons are used for thrusting and the saber is also used to cut firearms are divided into portable and non portable kinds within the last twenty five years portable firearms have been completely transformed at present guns of small caliber furnished with a repeating mechanism have been adopted by all the powers spain began in 1892 1893 to substitute for its 1871 models of the remington type of eleven millimeters mili milt meters a mauser rifle 1893 model weighing kilo grammes and having a length of 1234 meters with a caliber of seven millimeters mili meters the projectile is a bullet weighing grammes fired by means of smokeless powder with an initial velocity of meters per second the rifles of small caliber with which all countries are provide dare bly superior to those hitherto used they can inflict serious havoc upon massed bodies at a distance of bf 1500 meters artillery which it must not be forgotten plays a most important part now employed emp loyes in the field three kinds of projectiles sharpner sharp nel shell cylindrical case shot and segment shell the shrapnel shell furnished with a double fuse by which it can be exploded in the air or on hitting a mark is the typical field projectile its destructive truc tive principle is composed of bullets of hardened lead and irregular fragments caused by its ita explosion all european armies have adopted this shell for field artillery which mostly works against infantry and seeks to attain its ends by the aid of time fuses exploding the shell in the air the weight of the bullet varies according to 0 the country from ten to fifteen grams the fragments of casting generally weigh twice as much cylindrical ease case shot consists of a cylindrical len envelope v elope containing bullets of hardened lead either free or cemented by various methot method sclay clay waster sawdust rosin or molten sul ebur this projectile is used at close quarters at ranges of less than six hundred meters in seeking to increase the destructive power of their arm am artil leymen have been successively led first to assure the segmentation of shell in such a way as to multiply the products of ex and then to make projectiles whose splintering and bullets have dimensions men that are determined and invariable the shell or obus bus torville tor plUe pIlle gives a minimum of 46 fragments and mso also a quantity of metallic dust that has beien been pulverized pulverised sed by the explosive gases this projectile is loaded with various explosives when the projectile la Is of steel stee 1 the splinters are am longer than those of cast iron all the frag merits great and small and there are some very large ones one sare ara beveled they act like a lot orf 0 two edged aed knives projected with the utmost violence all even erven such as weigh only 50 centi cenal grams can inflict deep wounds out cutting through the limbs fracturing bones and carrying with them portions these fragments no longer have as in the mae case of old fashioned projectiles a velocity but slightly superior to UW that of the ore shell itself at the of bursting burgling they exert their action over a radius of 1200 meters instead of being hurled only metters which gives an idea of at thedr thair velocity lastly they are so BO toot hot that it to Is impossible to hold them in the hand baad just after the explosion when the 7 nun mm bullet encounters a bone the injury varies according g to the distance at which kwas it waa fired and the part affected at close rge range thed that tn Is less than four hundred metres the effect is of an explosive bind far reach ing in character the bone to is fractured again and again and the lesions are about as serious as those caused by an 11 mm ban ball at the extremities of the bones where they widen out for the joints a 7 mm bullet generally causes mere berf perforation or at long range exceeding five hundred in meters eters that is to say under ordinary con conditions editions of firing the amm projectile usually makes clean perforations at osseous extremities ofa of a diameter but slightly larger than itself insaf lesions are consequently less serious bonet bones struck I 1 la the medial region are less splintered splint splintered erel than with the old bullets in short the greater the range fange at which the shot is fired the less serious is the fracture perforations ot oc the cranium are clear out cut as if they had been punched out and the ex elt plosive effect at short distances is not met with when the 7 mm projectile traver BeSa clothing it does not like the ll 11 myn mm bullet so often carry with it more or lees ess portions of rounded tissue into the wound but fragments of wool or linen axe are always found in its passage through the flesh the presence of these debris however slight Is the chief cause of infections of wounds from firearms the bullet itself has ha been rendered aseptic by the high temperature pera ture which follows upon its explosive discharge but the filaments are charged with germs which they deposit in the wound suppuration must therefore be reckoned with wounds of this character the adopt adoption ioda of small caliber firearms has on the whole resulted in diminishing mini shing the gravity of wounds inflicted by them and opening up tip wider fields for surgery but the conditions of surgical interference have not been much altered it Is still the first care of the surgeon to extract the projectiles for although rifle bullets are not as an liable as formerly to remain ln in fht tissues the same does not apply to case shot which has a much smaller power of penetration f and as there is reason to expect an i increase of at least twenty to twenty five per cent over th losses in the last great wais wars too much attention cannot be bestowed upon the tion and equipment of the arno andriy fedt cal contingents exchange |
