14 



NA TURE 



[August 2, 1900 



must be confessed that English readers have fuller 

 historical and scientific information available on arrow 

 poisons in the inaugural address delivered by Prof. 

 Stockmann, of Aberdeen University, to the North 

 British Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1898 

 {Pharmaceutical Journal, November 26 and December 3, 

 1898). It is interesting to note how thoroughly Prof. 

 Stockmann's ethnological distribution of arrow poisons — 

 a distribution which is extremely well marked— agrees 

 with that of the French writers. In their description of 

 the methods adopted for the propulsion of arrows and 

 similar projectiles, the authors make no mention of the 

 use of the blowpipe, a somewhat formidable weapon in 

 the hands of Bornean aborigines. 



In the chapter on defensive armour there is a guarded 

 reference to what may prove of considerable importance 

 in the future. In the helmet and cuirass we still possess 

 the relics of a period when nations fought with sword 

 and lance ; but the opinion is gradually gaining ground 

 that the use of defensive armour in the form of shields 

 for protection against the projectiles of modern fire-arms 

 may become a feature in future wars. The Danish Army 

 have already adopted a form of shield for this purpose, 

 and the principle is also recognised in the use of 

 shields with the quick-firing automatic guns of the 

 Maxim type. 



The authors' contribution to the subject of projectiles 

 deals with modern fire-arms only ; and, with the excep- 

 tion that the projectiles of the automatic guns are not 

 considered at all, the information on the subject is con- 

 cise and complete. Modern small-arm projectiles are 

 exceptionally well described. The physical qualities of 

 these projectiles are remarkably similar in the different 

 European countries, the chief variation in form being in 

 the calibre of the bullet, which is between 6-5 and 7 

 millimetres sectional diameter for Italy, Holland, Norway, 

 Roumania and Spain, and between 7 and 8 millimetres 

 for other countries, the smaller calibre of the former 

 being compensated for by greater length. The dynamic 

 properties, however, have considerable and important 

 variations, which the authors describe with the lucidity 

 and precision characteristic of French writings on subjects 

 of this nature. The chief practical interest in the dynamics 

 of projectiles lies in the relationship between these 

 properties and the surgical results. The principle to 

 which the modern small-arm projectile owes its origin is 

 indicated in the formula /= mv^. In other words, the 

 production of a bullet with a high rate of velocity at the 

 expense of mass has been the object attained in the 

 adoption of magazine rifles. But it is gradually dawning 

 upon the mihtary mind that the equation of work, ex- 

 pressed by the formula o = ^^, does not express 



accurately the relative values of velocity and mass in 

 the surgical results. The first occasion on which our 

 own troops used the high velocity small calibre bullet 

 in actual war — namely, in Waziristan in 1895 — proved 

 the fallacy of the formula in this respect ; and it is now 

 fairly well recognised that the mass of the projectile is 

 probably as important a factor in producing surgical 

 disaster as its velocity. No doubt the actual power of 

 penetration and the resistance required to bring the pro- 

 jectile to a state of rest is accurately expressed by the 

 NO. 1605. VOL. 62] 



formula ; but it is this very power of penetration, depend- 

 ing so much on increase of velocity combined with re- 

 duction of mass, that has earned for the modern bullet 

 the epithet humane. To pursue the subject further would 

 lead to a variety of speculations as to the nature of the 

 weapon of the future. The authors clearly recognise this, 

 and are inclined to regard the action of the United 

 States of America in reducing the diameter of the pro- 

 jectile of the naval small arm to 6 mm. as indicating a 

 tendency to convert modern firearms into carabines de 

 salon or fusils d'enfanfs. They are apparently much in 

 sympathy with the use of bullets that deform or expand 

 on impact, or at any rate produce shock, and fear that 

 the agitation against these bullets will only lead to the 

 use of some more deadly projectile in the future. These 

 expanding or deforming bullets and their effects are fully 

 described. The best known example is the soft-nosed 

 Lee-Metford bullet, but the authors refer also to the use 

 of the Lebel bullet with the hard envelope stripped at the 

 apex. They state, however, that the latter does not ex- 

 pand on impact, although it produces shock. Another 

 interesting example of the expanding bullet is the Swiss 

 bullet, which has the lead core naked at the base in 

 stead of at the apex. The deformity in this bullet after 

 impact, by the incurving of the soft base, is said to be 

 as great as, if not greater than, the deformity at the apex 

 of the Dum-dum type of bullet. The explosive effects 

 sometimes caused by high velocity bullets are also very 

 clearly discussed, but no new light is thrown upon this 

 very curious phenomenon. The authors adhere to the 

 generally accepted theory that the effects are due to 

 secondary energy transmitted to tissues of a certain 

 nature or in a certain state of tension. The 

 possible part played by ricochets, deformities, and 

 varying angles of impact is not mentioned in 

 this connection. There is also entire absence of any 

 reference to the use of true explosive bullets, which, 

 although abolished by international agreement in 1868, 

 are alleged to have been employed by some Boer com- 

 mandos' in the war that is now being waged in South 

 Africa. The chapter on artillery fire is interesting and 

 valuable, and concludes with a suggestive article on the 

 moral effects of this branch of the service. In other re- 

 spects the dynamics and ballistics of artillery projectiles 

 and the wounding effects of fragments of shells, pro- 

 jectiles, &c., are worked out on the same lines as in the 

 chapters on small-arm projectiles. 



In the volume on explosives there is a variety of de- 

 tails, not readily obtained elsewhere in the same compact 

 form, and on this account it is perhaps the most valuable 

 of the three volumes to the student of military surgery 

 or medical jurisprudence, to whom it is chiefly of interest. 

 The effects of the various explosives in use are amply 

 illustrated by historical incidents, especially incidents 

 connected with anarchist attempts and with explosions 

 in stores, ships and arsenals. The explosives used in 

 the cartridges of the small-arms of different countries 

 are also well described and compared. The authors in- 

 clude in this volume a chapter on the accidents connected 

 with sapping and mining, a subject which we do not 

 remember to have seen noticed in other works of a 

 similar nature. The physical phenomena of a peculiar 

 form of intoxication or suffocation to which sappers are 



