Wounds in war : the mechanism of their production and their treatment . antimony. u Case contains no burst-ing charge within it, but is rupturedclose to the muzzle by the explosionof the powder charge within the gun ;the bullets thus set free spread out likea charge of shot from a fowling-piece,and are very destructive to masses ofmen at short ranges, up to 300 or400 yards wTith field-guns, and to greaterdistances w7ith guns of larger calibre. Solid shots are now used only for piercing armour-plated ships and against strongly fortified positions. Theyare sharp-pointed steel projectiles of
Wounds in war : the mechanism of their production and their treatment . antimony. u Case contains no burst-ing charge within it, but is rupturedclose to the muzzle by the explosionof the powder charge within the gun ;the bullets thus set free spread out likea charge of shot from a fowling-piece,and are very destructive to masses ofmen at short ranges, up to 300 or400 yards wTith field-guns, and to greaterdistances w7ith guns of larger calibre. Solid shots are now used only for piercing armour-plated ships and against strongly fortified positions. Theyare sharp-pointed steel projectiles of intense hardness. The power of penetration of fragments of shell, or ofthe bullets contained in them, on living tissues, is notusually very great, or, at all events, is not long of penetration of a small-arm bullet, as alreadyexplained, depends on its small diameter, its pointed shape,and its high velocity; fragments of shell and shrapnelbullets have characteristics quite the opposite of these, andarc consequently defective in penetrative power. Shell. Fig. 2;.—Case-shot. 74 WOUNDS IN WAR fragments are irregular, jagged pieces of metal, which offer,compared with their weights, extended surfaces to the re-sistance of the air ; they therefore soon lose their velocity,while their shape is the worst possible for purposes ofpenetration. Shrapnel bullets are large and round, andthe same statement is equally true of them. A fragment of a common shell, consisting usually of amass of metal with jagged sides and sharp angles, tears andlacerates the soft parts sometimes to an enormous extent ;its velocity, as already mentioned, is usually low, con-sequently lodgment in the part struck frequently the same manner, though to a less extent, the bullets ofshrapnel produce large entrance wounds and usually lodgein the soft parts. Although solid shot are, in moderntimes, as already mentioned, only used against ships andforts, yet it does occur that men are wounded by
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