Experiment and experience with the rifle / by Henry G. Beyer.

  • Beyer, Henry Gustav, 1850-1918.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Experiment and experience with the rifle / by Henry G. Beyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    merit consists in that lie lias furnished the best expla- nation of the nature and the manner of production of what is known as explosive effect. From my own limited experience with experimental injuries, I may be permitted to say right here that, when once the peculiar conditions under which this explosive effect is produced are thoroughly known and correctly appre- ciated by the student of military surgery, the whole subject of gunshot injuries and their production under the most varied conditions, on either the living or the dead, in the field or in the laboratory, becomes unex- pectedly clear. Explosive effect in general has been attributed by dift’ereiit observers to a variety of causes and condi- tions, namely: (1) To deformed and deforming bul- lets ; (2) to direct or ricochet shots; (3) to the rota- tion of bullets; (4) the melting of the lead of the bullet. Kocher, while willingly admitting, and, thereby, basing himself on his own experiments, that any and all the above-named conditi uis may co-operate in its production, sees in none of them the principal and primary cause of the ex[)losive effect, inasmucli as he has produced the effect by underforme<l, non-rotat- ing and non-melting bullets, providing he gave these bullets the recjuired velocity. According to Kucher, moreover, explosive effect, whether occurring in dry substances or in organs saturated with water, is due to and may be explained by the operation of the same physical law. As early as 1880, now twenty years ago, Kocher had demanded that it should be made a matter of in- ternational law and agreement to introiiuce metals in the manufacture of projectiles tint possesseil a higher melting point, greater hardness and a smaller diame- ter than the onlinary leaden bullets used at that time.