THE SHOCK OF BULLET WOUNDS. 277 



Stones may be thrown at it, as a smart blow has a 

 powerful effect in recalling* consciousness, if life still 

 exists. 



It is a curious but well-attested fact that mortally 

 wounded animals are frequently apparently less affected 

 by subsequent shots than they were by the original 

 wound. There can be no doubt that this is due to 

 the shock to the nervous system occasioned by the 

 first shot, which to a certain extent paralyzes the sense 

 of pain, and renders the system in this way less 

 sensitive to future shocks. The authorities upon this 

 point are numerous, but we shall confine ourselves to 

 a single reference with regard to it: 



" Cases " (says Mr. F. J. Jackson in his contribution to the 

 Handbook on Big Game Shooting of the Badminton Library) 

 " occur from time to time, in every sportsman's experience, 

 in which it seems almost impossible to dispatch a wounded 

 beast, except by a shot in the brain or vertebrae. The 

 wounded animal seems in these cases quite impervious to 

 all sense of pain, being apparently in a state of semi-con- 

 sciousness after the first shot; the shock of each subsequent 

 shot seeming to have no further effect." : 



An animal in this state may therefore be regarded 

 as living in a sort of waking-sleep or trance. 



We must venture to disagree with this opinion in 

 so far as the state of semi-consciousness is concerned, 

 in order to point out that in our opinion this condition 

 need not necessarily affect the mental powers, but 

 merely paralyzes the sense of pain, leaving the mind 

 in the human subject in many cases quite clear; and 

 the same in the case of the instinct of the animal (if 



* Big Game Shooting (Badminton Library), 1894, Vol. i., pp. 202 3 

 (Mr. F. J. Jackson's paper). 



