Note 132 — CHAP. IV.

This is a fact which does not admit of doubt; but the manner in which the effect is here produced is a matter of conjecture. It is most probably owing to the compression and tremor of the air in consequence of its resistance to the motion of the ball. We can also conceive, that, with regard to an yielding part, such as the stomach or abdomen, a body flying with great velocity may even, for a moment, displace a portion of it by passing through the same space, without any other mechanical injury than contusion, in a manner similar to what happens to two balls in the act of collision in philosophical experiments made to illustrate the nature of elasticity; or the compressed air may even, in this case, act, as it were, like a cushion, preventing the sudden impulse and contact of the ball. This explanation furnishes a reason why the parts of the body above mentioned should be more liable to be affected by accidents of this kind than the head. Perhaps this difference may also, in part, arise from the principle laid down by Mr. Hunter, that the stomach is more essential to life, and more immediately the seat of it, than the head or any other member or organ of the body, and that an injury to this part is more immediately destructive of life than any other.