According to observations made in the Russo-Japanese war, wounds in joints healed without suppuration, the joint and its mobility being saved. Amputations were extremely rare, and the surgeon’s skill was, as a rule, seldom necessary in the treatment of shot wounds. Chest wounds were slight, and often many men walked a few versts to the dressing station, some of them complaining of difficulty in breathing. As a rule, such wounds healed in fourteen days. Chest wounds were more serious when the heart or the large blood vessels were injured; but even in these cases cures were effected. Abdominal wounds were not so serious as in the past. Contrary to past experience, skull wounds, in which the projectile had passed entirely through the brain, were treated with fair success.

The campaigns in South Africa and Manchuria have amply demonstrated that wounds produced by jacketed bullets of small caliber are not so serious as those caused by 11 mm. projectiles. In addition, these campaigns have shown that a further decrease in caliber is undesirable from the tactician’s point of view, for a hit by no means affords the certainty, in every case, of putting a man, much less a horse, out of action.

Moreover, the wounded man is cured so quickly that in a short time he can again participate in action. The British report of losses for the battle of Paardeberg, on February 18th, 1900, contains the names of a great many men who were wounded at Magersfontain on December 11th, 1899. According to British statements, 40 men out of every 100, seriously wounded by steel jacketed bullets, could be returned to duty after 36 days of surgical treatment. Dr. Küttner estimates that of 154 men hit in the chest, 73 were able to return to duty with their organizations; while, out of 92 men wounded in the knee, only 28 could be sent back to duty. Wounds produced by the small caliber Arisaka rifle during the Russo-Japanese war healed more rapidly than those caused by the Russian weapon. Flesh wounds of Japanese soldiers, for example, healed in ten days, those of Russian soldiers in four. The following observations were made on wounds produced by the Russian rifle: Within a week slight wounds were covered by a scab; after three weeks they were covered by fresh skin and a part of the wounded were then able to return to the front. The remainder, irrespective of the number of wounds received by any one individual, were ready for duty in seven months. Wounds in which bones were perforated without splintering, healed in four to six weeks, so that the men could return to duty within four or five months after receiving the wound. When bones were splintered the cure was, of course, considerably retarded.

The ballistic advantages of a small-caliber projectile (undesirable from the military surgeon’s point of view) have been obtained by the adoption of a pointed-nose bullet (called the “S” bullet in Germany and the “D” bullet in France).[128]

A further advantage of these bullets is that they produce serious wounds on account of their tendency to tumble. These wounds, while not inhuman, instantly disable the man struck, or, at any rate, postpone his recovery indefinitely.

The Effect of “S” Bullets on Corpses.

2. THE EFFECT OF “S” BULLETS ON MATERIALS.

The following thicknesses of dry pine are pierced by the “S” bullet (rifle model ’98) at the ranges given:

In sand and earth the penetration of the “S” bullet amounts to 90 cm. According to experiments, 3 mm. steel plates were pierced at 350 m., while hay stacks afforded protection when 4 m. thick; when of less thickness, the latter caused bullets to tumble. Embankments of frozen snow 1 m. thick, of packed snow 2 m. thick, and of loose snow 3 m. thick, were not pierced even at 250 m.