Elements of physics, or, Natural philosophy, general and medical : explained independently of technical mathematics, and containing new disquisitions and practical suggestions.

  • Arnott, Neil, 1788-1874
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of physics, or, Natural philosophy, general and medical : explained independently of technical mathematics, and containing new disquisitions and practical suggestions. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    118/688 (page 68)
    leg with moderate velocity, would hardly be felt; but a loaded barge, coming at the same rate, would break the bones, by pressing it against the quay ; a large ship, approaching with this speed, might crush his body against the dock-wall; and an island of ice, opposed in its approach to ano¬ ther, even by a first-rate man of war, would de¬ stroy it as meeting barges destroy a floating egg¬ shell. A hail-stone falling, strikes rudely; a stone rolled from a height, as of old, by the besieged against the besiegers, may carry death with it to many ; an avalanche, breaking from its hold on a mountain steep, may sweep away a village. To meeting bodies the shock is the same, whether the motion be shared between them or be all in one. If a running man come by accident against a man who is standing, both receive a certain shock. If both be running at the same rate in opposite directions, the shock is doubled. In some such cases, as where swift skaiters have met, the shock has proved fatal. A man’s skull is fractured as certainly by its being dashed against a tree while he is on a gal¬ loping horse, as by the blow of a lance or beam, shot at him with the like velocity. The meeting fists of boxers not unfrequently dislocate or break bones. When two ships in opposite courses meet at sea, although each may be sailing at a moderate rate, the destruction is often as complete to both, as if