274 MY SOMALI BOOK 



administer the greatest shock or knock-down blow 

 to the system of a man : a thrust through his chest 

 with a foil, or a blow on the chest with a sledge- 

 hammer ? Why does a ten-bore bullet, fired through 

 a pane of glass, only make a small neat hole the size 

 of itself, when if the same bullet is thrown at it b}^ 

 hand, it will shatter the whole structure ? " His 

 answer is : " The sharp point of the foil meets with " 

 (comparatively) " no resistance, while the blunter- 

 surfaced sledge-hammer meets with considerable 

 resistance, hence the shock. The excessive velocity 

 of the bullet when fired overcomes the resistance too 

 quickly, while its slower velocity when thrown by hand 

 meets with greater resistance, and so enables the shock 

 or concussion to travel from the point of contact to 

 ever}^ part of the system." 



The first example is misleading ; there are no means 

 of comparison of the amount of energy expended in 

 the case of the foil and sledge-hammer respectively, 

 but it would undoubtedly be much greater in the case 

 of the latter. The illustration of the bullet thrown 

 through a window pane is, however, to the point, and 

 from it we can see that, so far as shock is concerned, a 

 high velocity bullet is likely to produce less effect than 

 a slower travelling one — unless the body of the animal 

 struck is able to oppose an adequate resistance. It is 

 therefore necessary to take into account the size and 

 structure of the animal to be shot, for a high velocity 

 bullet might easily produce a greater shock-effect on 

 an oryx than when similarly placed on the slight body 

 of a gazelle. In this connection we need only note 

 for the present that a lion or tiger is a large animal 



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