On the probable surgical effects in battle in case of the employment of projectiles of a more elongated form, such as the Whitworth projectiles / by Thomas Longmore.

  • Longmore, Sir Thomas, 1816-1895.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the probable surgical effects in battle in case of the employment of projectiles of a more elongated form, such as the Whitworth projectiles / by Thomas Longmore. 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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    As length (d) is increased, so will liability to more extensive laceration of the tissues through which a projectile passes be mcreased. It is evident that when a cylindro-conoidal projectile, as it ordinarily flies, rotating on its long axis, is suddenly brought into direct opposition and collision with an unyielding substance, whether before or after entei'ing the body, one of three events will occur. Firstly, it may perforate the opposing substance and pass on, retaining its original line of flight; Secondly, its progress may be arrested, being itself crushed and flattened, or separated into two or more portions ; or Thirdly, it may be caused to pursue its course in a new direction. In this last case, when deflected, its line of flight may be simply altered, its original course of rotation and width of track being preserved : or, its rotation being checked, it may eflTect an opening for itself sideways, that is, with its long axis at right angles to the line of its course: or the rotation on its long axis may be changed, by the resistance it has met with at its apex, into a partial rotation on one of the short axes.* If this secondarily acquired rotation were to continue for any distance through the body, then the track of the projectile would be rendered equal in diameter to the diameter of a circle of which the radius corresponded in length with that of the long axis of the elongated projectiles. This altered rotatory movement of the projectile must be attended with great stretching and tearing of the tissues which immediately sur- round the tunnelled opening made by the projectile in its passage, and alone can explain the wide laceration met with in the course of some flesh wounds in which the entrance opening corresponds closely in size with a section of the projectile through one of its short axes. Hence the important influence of length. As hardness (e) is increased, in addition to the qualities just mentioned, the greater will be the ease with which the metallic parts of accoutrements, the stronger bones of the extremities, and the vault of the cranium are perforated. Finally, in addition to the above, as weight (/) is increased, so the degree and extent of destruction of the harder structures will be increased. The primary rotatory motion of rifled projectiles also has an influence on the wounds produced by them, but generally not in any important degree when their original lines of flight and courses of rotation on their long axes are retained throughout their whole course.t * The frequency with which the hase of a lodged cyhndro-conoidal bidlet is pre- sented to the surgeon who has to excise it from the side of a limb opposite to that at which it has entered, is due to this secondarily-acquired rotation on a short axis. + The influence of rotation on the long axis may be chiefly observed wlieu the apex of a rifle-bullet comes into coUision with the sharp edge of a thin bone, as, for example, with the edge of a broken bono of tlie cranium, and the bullet is partly bisected by its own inherent vis a tergo, or forward motion. In such a case, the divided surfaces of the lead are usually strongly marked by ridge and fuiTOw hnes, caused by the irregularly jagged edge of the broken bone by which the division has been effected; and the direction of these Hnes wfll frequently serve to illustrate the twisting force—resulting from the rotation of the projectile on its long axis—which has been at the same time exerted. There is a very interesting specimen of a bullet in the museiun of the Army Medical Department, connected with a wound of the head, which exliibits nearly one complete turn on its long axis after it had been thus caught. This bullet, a Eussian conical rifle-bullet, has been separated by an oblique division from the apex to the base; and the two divided parts are only lield together by a narrow isthmus of lead at one of the angles of the base of the section. This isthmus is twisted round on itself, like a piece of cord, carrying with it the thinner section of the projectile, or that section which was most easily acted upon by the twisting force. The ridge and fun-ow lines on the separated surfaces of the bullet are contorted from the right to the left, indicating the direction towmls which the rotatory force has modified the direction of the bhectiny force. I am not aware that any observation of such a demonstration of the influence of the spinning quality of a rifle-bidlet in motion has been before published. Although when the spinning force is first impressed upon the projectile, it is limited by the degree of s])iralilT of the grooves of the musket to one turn in a distance, varying from 20 inches to 78 inches,. according to the riHe used, yet there seems to be reason for believing that the degree of turn, or the distance within which a complete spin takes place, constantly lessens from the time the projectile quits the muzzle of the musket, owbg to the greater