The interior of the box was filled with
bovine liver. This represented animal tissue minus the bones.
At a distance of ten yards I discharged an obsidian-pointed arrow and a
steel-pointed arrow from a weak bow. The two missiles were alike in
size, weight, and feathering, in fact, were made by Ishi, only one had
the native head and the other his modern substitute. Upon repeated
trials, the steel-headed arrow uniformly penetrated a distance of
twenty-two inches from the front surface of the box, while the obsidian
uniformly penetrated thirty inches, or eight inches farther,
approximately 25 per cent better penetration. This advantage is
undoubtedly due to the concoidal edge of the flaked glass operating
upon the same principle that fluted-edged bread and bandage knives cut
better than ordinary knives.
In the same way we discovered that steel broad-heads sharpened by
filing have a better meat-cutting edge than when ground on a stone.
In our experience with game shooting, we never could see the advantage
of longitudinal grooves running down the shaft of the arrow, such as
some aborigines use, supposed to promote bleeding.
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