Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small CalibreMakins, George Henry
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Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre
Makins, George Henry
Gunshot wounds; South African War, 1899-1902; Surgery, Military
Fig. 38, 1, represents a soft-nosed Lee-Metford removed from just below
the lesser sigmoid cavity of the ulna, after it had perforated the
elbow-joint. The soft nose appears to have been torn, and separated by
impact with the bone, but the mantle is little altered. There can be
little doubt, however, that the bullet was travelling at a comparatively
low rate of velocity, since it was retained in the forearm, whence its
various parts were removed by Major Lougheed, R.A.M.C. I picked up a
number of similarly deformed bullets on the field. No. 2 represents a
soft-nosed Lee-Metford which perforated the scapula from the front; the
bullet was retained, hence again velocity cannot have been very high,
and the comminution was slight. If it had passed out, a large exit wound
would, however, have resulted.
[Illustration: FIG. 39. Soft-nosed Lee-Metford Mantle. Lateral ricochet.
Illustrating effect of solid base in maintaining the stability of the
mantle]
Fig. 39 represents a type of ricochet sometimes found on the field. In
spite of a considerable amount of violence which has caused the escape
of the core, the fissuring of the mantle is comparatively slight. In
point of fact, the casing is, as a rule, preserved from the severe
violence it suffers when complete, by the flattening and turning over of
the soft nose. I am sorry I cannot append an illustration of a damaged
soft-nosed Mauser, but I am of opinion that those used during the
campaign were not of a very dangerous nature on account of the small
amount of lead exposed. To gain the full advantage of the soft nose at
least a third of the core should be exposed. No. 3, fig. 37, of a
Lee-Metford, probably represents the most effective form of such
bullets. I am inclined to think these bullets as a class, however, are
not more dangerous to the wounded man than the regulation Mauser fired
at short range, if the latter either comes into contact with bone or
suffers ricochet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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