THE WAY TO FALL DOWN. Why Drunken Men and Children are so Often Unhurt.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 268, 30 May 1888, Page 6

THE WAY TO FALL DOWN. Why Drunken Men and Children are so Often Unhurt.

' The special providence thatseemsto hover over drunken men and children has something of an explanation,' said a well-known and eminent medical man to a importer, ' in the facfc of the main cause of the breakage of the bones from falls being from a resistance of the tendons more often than from the violence of fcbe shock incident to the actual fall. A child or an intoxicated person will rarely endeavour with any great effort to recover their balance when they slip or topple over. Hence no special resisting force is experienced, and they sink into a collapsed heap without serious Injury. When an adult in possession of his sound senses undertakes, with endless contortions and gyrations to save himself from going down, he draws every muscle and sinew taut, and if the wrench is too severe the bone breaks. There is no way of definitely proving it, bub ifc is asserted, and I believe with some show of truth, that .some, at least, of the fractures resulting from fall, especially from a height, happen before the actual shock with the substance one falls on occurs. It's strange, but I guess it is the truth. 3