MODERN FIGHTING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 971, 9 December 1879, Page 2

MODERN FIGHTING.

Some interesting evidence~{»ays —theDaily News) as to the chwacter pf modern fighting is supplied by a recently published vorame, the report of the,Staf- ' ford House Committee oW thelr ! dpdrations m the late Russo-Turkish Wi&r., Besides a " record of operations," thO book contains some general reports on surgical matters by the chief surgeons employed. In these there is to be found nearly unanimous testimony, firstas" to the comparative fewness of wounds from the " white arm," as swords, bayonet, lances, and such-like weapons are ool* > lectively termed m French military W- . guage. The second point of interest is the greater ease with which suchr#djinds healed when, they were not at oi^ce fatal. Sword wounds were more numerous m } the latter part of the war jfchan m ihe earlier, says Mr Barker, and they usually healed easily. ' Bayonet wounds were much rarer. " Among thousands' of - ; wounded men," says Dr. Pinkerton, u t did not see more than half-a-dozen suffering from sabre, lance, or bayonet wounds," and he adds that, the-exper-ience of others whom he questioned Wat the same. . " The number' of baytifet* wounds coming under obsdrfattan iotas exceedingly small," says Mr Maokeller, and though sabre, wounds; were more frequent m this gentleman's experiences, they were chiefly due to watitonattactij on non-combatants, not to faiif fighting The fact Beems to be that not onlyliii actual hand-to-hand fighting very moi* m modern warfare, but that modem weapons are very ill adapted for it. tn» j lance requires elbow room' and vdiy - adroit management,; jttej aabto. neato very great bodily strength,' and not a little skill, to make it effective ;i thefc bayonet is '• a most-clumsy weapoiK"* The bowie knife and the; short Ghoor^a . dagger are, thinks Dr. Pi^e^ton^fnafl|t{ much effective than any of our durong, arms. On the other hand, the modern^ rifle-bullet is allowed to be a -terHßl* weapon m its effedts, even where it does not kill, and the wounds it inmota.^ jMiett to be muoh more serious than> thole the old spherical ball. ■YUJr,.. 'if:\.':