MY SOMALI BOOK 277 



I shall probably be taken to task for asserting, as, 

 in effect, I have done, that there are three distinct 

 kinds of shock produced by a bullet. No doubt the 

 idea is not scientifically stated, and it is of course 

 impossible to separate from the sum-total the results 

 produced by the individual effects of each kind of shock ; 

 but it is only by looking at the problem in this way 

 that we can arrive at a more or less definite apprecia- 

 tion of the " how " and " why " of the final result as 

 affected by the various factors in a bullet's course. 



The question of expansion needs separate considera- 

 tion. If high velocity is not to be a disadvantage, the 

 wound-channel made by the bullet must, as we have 

 seen, be a wide one, or the shock-effect (as also the 

 amount of damage inflicted) wiU be inadequate. It is 

 necessar} , then, for a small bore bullet to have great 

 expansive qualities. To attain this end some bullets 

 are made so fragile at the point, that, while effective 

 on flesh and muscle, they frequently go to pieces on 

 striking a bone, their energy is dissipated among 

 fragments of lead that cause some local damage only, 

 and there is no penetration to the vital parts. 



There is a not uncommon idea that a good expansive 

 bullet can be made to expand almost indefinitely, or 

 up to the limit of its cubical content, so that, as it 

 proceeds, the striking surface continues to increase 

 until the whole bullet has become a flattened-out 

 disc. If this were true it would (leaving considerations 

 of weight out of reckoning for the moment) compensate 

 for the exiguous diameter of a light bullet as compared 

 with one of bigger bore which expanded less. 



But it is a sad delusion. i\.n expanding bullet is 



