NATURE 



313 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1900. 



WEAPONS AND WOUNDS. 

 ' armes blanches ; leur action et leurs effeis vidndrants. 

 H. Nimier, Professeur au Val-de-Grace, and Ed. 

 ival, medecin aide-major de premiere classe. Pp. 448. 

 *aris : F^lix Alcan, 1900.) 

 Les projectiles des ar7nes de guerre ; leur action vul- 

 n^rante. By the same authors. Pp. 212. (Paris : 

 Felix Alcan, 1899.) 

 Lcs explosifs, les poudres, les projectiles dexercice ; leur 

 ution et leurs effets vuMranis. By the same authors. 

 ['p. 192. (Paris : Felix Alcan, 1899.) 



THESE volumes, although their titles are formidable 

 enough, can scarcely be said to exhaust the subject 

 of the means invented by man for the special purpose of 

 destroying his own race. Prof. Nimier, one of the authors, 

 is well known as a writer on military medical subjects, 

 and no doubt he has thought it unnecessary to repeat 

 much of what he has already written on these and cog- 

 nate subjects. The volumes, however, fill considerable 

 gaps in our own literature. We have few writers in this 

 country whose works stand out prominently as works of 

 importance on the same subjects during the present 

 century. Guthrie and Ballingall are practically the only 

 writers whose contributions to the subject cover the 

 period between the Peninsular and the Crimean Wars. 

 Since then, Longmore's classical work on gunshot in- 

 juries was the sole work of reference until a year or two 

 ago, when Stevenson, his successor in the Army Medical 

 School at Netley, brought our knowledge of the injuries 

 likely to be produced by modern fire-arms up to date. 

 On the Continent the system of compulsory military 

 service is responsible for the fact that these subjects ex- 

 cite widespread interest amongst the general and scien- 

 tific public to a much greater extent than in England ; 

 and many important additions have been made to the 

 literature of wounds in war by continental writers within 

 the last few years. 



The bulkiest of these three volumes treats of a class 

 of weapons which nowadays play a comparatively un- 

 important part in wars between civilised Powers — namely, 

 the bayonet, sabre, sword, lance and arrow. This volume 

 also contains a chapter on defensive armour. We were 

 much disappointed in finding that its bulkiness, instead 

 of being due to pages full of historical detail, as we had 

 anticipated, depends largely upon needless repetitions of 

 the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the wounds 

 produced in the different regions and tissues of the human 

 body by the various weapons included in the term armes 

 blanches. These repetitions are wearisome and unneces- 

 sary. The wounds produced by side-arms differ in no 

 way from the contused, incised, punctured or poisoned 

 wounds described in text-books on general surgery. In 

 other words, there is no specialism in the subject for the 

 student of physical, military or medical science, except 

 perhaps that portion of it which deals with arrows and 

 arrow poisons. 



The volume, however, is of much value as a work of 

 reference for any one desirous of comparing the shape 

 NO. 1605, VOL. 62] 



and construction of the side-arms used by the several 

 European Powers. The chapters on the bayonet and 

 mixed types of bayonet are specially interesting in this 

 respect. The introduction of the magazine rifle has led 

 to important changes in the length and weight of the 

 bayonet and to its probable use in future wars. The 

 short knife-bayonet is now almost universally adopted ; 

 the shortest being the 21 centimetre long Norwegian 

 bayonet, used with the Krag-Jorgenson rifle ; as com- 

 pared with the British Lee-Metford bayonet of 30 centi- 

 metres. The Austrian, German, Italian and Spanish 

 bayonets hold an intermediate position between these 

 two. Russia and France, on the other hand, still retain 

 the long, narrow-pointed bayonet. Thus the Russian 

 bayonet, 1891 pattern, measures 43 centimetres, and the 

 French Lebel bayonet 52 centimetres with a weight of 

 466 grammes. Some idea of the slender stiletto-Uke 

 proportions of the latter may be formed from the fact 

 that, although nearly twice as long, it weighs actually 

 less than the Lee-Metford bayonet. The authors 

 enter somewhat fully into reasons why the Russians 

 and French prefer this long weapon of offence 

 to the shorter bayonet, which they describe as being in- 

 tended more for lopping branches of trees and digging 

 trenches than for any other purpose m war. They agree 

 in thinking that, in modern pitched battles, the last phase, 

 namely, the charge, restera ct Petal puretnent platonique, 

 one side yielding to the other without waiting for cold 

 steel. But surprises, night attacks and assaults on con- 

 voys are circumstances of war which will occur as fre- 

 quently in the future as in the past ; and it is these that 

 render the retention of the bayonet as a weapon of offence 

 of paramount importance. The Russians recognise this 

 fact so well that their cavalry carry a bayonet for use with 

 the carbine. The authors also refer to the national tempera- 

 ment of the French as one of the reasons why they have 

 not followed the example of neighbouring European coun- 

 tries in adopting a bayonet more suitable for camp pur- 

 poses than as a weapon of offence. The French, they 

 say, are specially fond of side-arms as weapons, by which 

 we assume that the national temperament urges them to 

 get to close quarters as soon as possible. This, however, 

 seems scarcely sufficient reason for the preference they 

 have for a long narrow bayonet. Our own soldiers, at 

 any rate, have amply proved in the present campaign in 

 South Africa that the short, stout bayonet possesses de- 

 structive and moral effects possibly equalled, but certainly 

 not excelled, by the longer weapon. The authors have 

 little to say that is of interest with regard to the sabre, 

 sword and lance. The type of these weapons is practi- 

 cally the same in all civilised countries, and the chapters 

 on them are mainly descriptive. 



Arrows and arrow poisons are fully discussed, the 

 chapter on them being mainly a rhuinc oi the mvestiga- 

 tions made by the French naval surgeons, Le Dantec, 

 whose tables of the geographical distribution and 

 classification of arrow poisons are given in detail. The 

 subject is occupying much attention at present in this 

 country in consequence of the rapid extension of 

 European spheres of influence in the African Hinterland, 

 where poisoned arrows are so widely used by aboriginal 

 tribes. Those who are interested in the subject will find 

 accurate and important details in this chapter, but it 



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