The Wind Of Cannon Balls

"Tbe limes liave beta That whi'ii br:ii')s were ot, tht' man woulil de, Afi1 tHTi' ftn énl ; but doy, ihey riM ftgaln, With twtnty 'n rial BkurdsrB na their cruwns, A M 'bui (ruin our stooH.'J So with the supoi'Blitions of sailors and soldiero. They have more live than oat. Tho oraíha !iavo been kaooked out of thin ono many times, but here t comes cvgwifl, Coloticl Iví'ssell falla dead in tho canhonade at Roanoke ; no wonnd is found apon bis body ; ergo, ay the soldiers, he was killed by the wind of tho balls. Non sequitur, enys the surgeon. The wind of a canoon ball never hurte anybódy, for many reasons, the rat of whicb is, that there is no such rting. The air displaced by the hall ioaefi instantly behind it, but has nn ateral effect. This is provs'l in j us ways, but is plueed beyond cnvilor uestion, by the common oceurrenoea i every sovero cannonade. Fop ntanee, tho dispatoh received fror:i Fort )onelscn naya : - "A shot ctniek th-9 )ilot-houso of ihe Gt. Louis, passing i íiough it betwtn ihe pilot's legs, ut injuring him." Vv'hy did not tbe íind of that ball at least ark hu bina? The fiict is, that military mirgery buunus in cavea which prove that canion baila pass in grazing oontae.t with 11 parts of a man'ot body, and never lo the uliyjhtest harm, exeept to the juris autually truck. They bave rnutshed clean through hats and huliets, razing the hair; they have om il" eurd ulose to the skull; arma close 0 the side ; one thigh close to the ther; and 3 et the adjucent partd are ett us sound as evur. An iiiïj'ance is given of a heavy shot trik'iiü; a rank of marohing men in the ank, taking ofi' the right leg of the rut, oí the third, and uf' the öf;h man, f co urne passing betvveen tha leg of he olhel'8, and yot the hft. h'gs of the Kiunded men were unuijiired, and Ihe other men knew nothing about it. Acording to thd wind theorv, their legs houlil have been Uadly injuied. liut how r.eo'HKit for the death of nen in action, whose skins are un broten, save by the wind Iheory ? Eaa.ly, 'as thiis : - The vital infernal rgans rloat. as it wero, in a i,;lding ntdiuin, Pi'iss your hand iotothe pit 'f a nian's stotnach sluwly, and you Tiuy displace the organ without anv lain or inju'ry; but plant a swilt blow hele with your fist, and you doublé he man up with pain; perhaps kil! h!m uiright; but there w i 11 nut bo the lightust outward mark. Henee, in )oxing, a blow below the belt is indeed bul. Presa hard upon a raan's left sido, and the elasticity of the ribs aideil by oartileges at eauh end, allows great de jresmou to be made - uonsaquently the luartand hings to be pufhed anide; and yet everyihing comes back to iis place without pain or injuiy ; but a jwitt blow over the same part with a club, or a fall f rom a house upon a hard substauce may fracture theiibs, drive the sharp broken poitits through ihe membranes, or even paral vze the heart, and kill the man outright, whh out leaving a blemish on the skin. Standing once in the bow of the veenel, as she bore down upon a hostile battery my eye Cuught the first flash of a cannon, and qnicker than one could wink twice, tho ball camo crashing 'ihrough tho Lulwarks, and stno'.e down a oomrade, before my ear caught the report, whicli he, alas ! war too fttr gono to hear. A twelve pound shot struck him full upon the pelvis ; but being partly spent in spiintering the woodj its force was further bioken by his body, and it feil t the deck with 1 1 i in. ís o blood was drawn, but ihe inlernal parts were so smashed that he was hiJidiy got down to cockpit alive. Suldiers and sailors have other stitious about spont baila Tho old soldier luves to retuil thera to the ie eruit, upom whom be looks down as sophoinores di upon lreshtnen, or as our regular officers do upon voluoteers, and with as little reason, few of thetn even having seen rauch hard fighting, fr thö Meaioan War was but a sort of dress campaign, aginst a poor, weak enemy, in the wholo of wbiuh there was less bloud-shed than in a Napoleonie ükirmiab. The old soldier, I nay, wül teil you of tbe greeuhorn, whj geeing a spent ball just moviug on the grouud, tried to stop it with bis fot, but had it cut clean ofi instanter. Tho faut is, a oannon ball, partly spent, ricocheti and rolls with just the same forcé as though it had been rolled by a mao's hand, and no inore. The force depends upon its weijht and volooity, of couree. Mortal wounds, however, without any bloodshed or breuch of the skin, ure not generally made by ppent balls, but by tuone having greai volocity ; and acoording to my theory, thev should be inore frequent by smooth-bore than by riried cannon. The balls rotate Kwiftly on the axii as theyfly, and in directions according to the lorces acting upou tha:n as thoy leave the gun. Now take a 82 pound shot and hold it befbre a man'a thigh on the outside, or before his rib.s, in suuh wise ttmt if you push it forward, and he stands ñrtn, tha ball wil] pass, by reason of his flesh yielding, oneinch; that is, by being pressed inwards one inch. Tlie ball wil] ihus liave moved through a spree before occupied by flash or bont-, because it passed slcwly, or the pnrtn yiel jed, and do harm is done. But if that same man is standing firmly, und that saine Z'l pound shot, rushlDg wwii't as lightning, stiikes himin the eame directioc, it may roll over the skin with oat breaking it, but may, nevertheless, dash itinvraid with such euddun shock as to paralyze all vital action, and even crush the bone. Jove's thunderbolt could not strike a man dead more suddenly, or leave less scars. Sometimes it ia found the infernal parta are ruptured, marked and even pummeled to a jelly, thoiirh there were no ontward marks. Generalty, how ever, tho discoloration shows itself plainly on the surface ia a short time af ter dea'h. War has real terrors enoiiorh ; and a moviug cannon ball w :i fc:tr!nl missile; bnt -ve should got vid nt all supersti tions about it.- Btrm Transcript. üpS" Tlio soul without action is liko an instrument not played upon, or like a j ship in port, fcnowing no pro gres whiie I it sUys thore but docay.