tance to the effects of velocity as a factor in the
severity of the injuries produced, when the large proportion of wounds
received at distances above 1,000 yards is borne in mind, we see how
rapidly the superiority of the smaller projectiles is lost. This loss,
even in the early stages, is probably more than made up for in the case
of the Lee-Metford, when the superiority in weight, calibre, and
bluntness of extremity as contributing to striking force is taken into
consideration.

The striking force (kinetic energy) of a bullet is indicated by the
following formula: F = 1/2 mv.^{2}; that is to say, the striking force
is equal to half the weight of the bullet multiplied by the square of
the velocity.

In point of fact, with unaltered regulation bullets I was never able to
determine any very material difference between the wounds produced,
further than that the wounds of entry and exit in the soft parts tended
to correspond with the calibre of the particular bullet concerned.
Although the immense majority of the wounds which came under my notice
were caused by the Mauser bullet, yet I saw some hundreds of wounded
Boers and a good many of our own men wounded by Lee-Metford bullets, in
the latter case no doubt by some of the sporting varieties. The only
cases that I can call to mind or have noted as exhibiting a superior
wounding power in the Lee-Metford bullet are some injuries to bone. Thus
I saw a considerable number of clean perforations of the patella
produced by Mauser bullets, while the only two Boers whom I saw with
injured patellae had suffered transverse fractures. Again, I have a
lively recollection of an old Boer who had suffered a fracture of the
middle third of the femur, in the thigh of whom, with small apertures of
entry and exit, a cavity of destroyed tissue, five inches across, was
found beneath the fascia lata at the distal side of the fracture. I
cannot however say that I did not observe many equally severe injuries
to the femur produced by Mauser bullets in our own men, and as far as
fractures of the skull went, a somewhat crucial test, among the men
brought off the battlefield alive, I never saw any difference in
severity whatever.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Sections of four Bullets to show relative shape
and thickness of mantles.

From left to right: 1. Guedes; regular dome-shaped tip; mild steel
mantle; thickness at tip 0.8 mm.; at sides of body 0.3 mm. 2.
Lee-Metford; ogival tip; cupro-nickel m