Some valuable experiments were made on Wednesday in the Alhambra
Theatre with Herr Dowe's bullet-proof breast- plate, in presence of the Commander-in-Chief and some three hundred spectators. The breastplate is 3 in. thick, and if 18 in. by 14 in. in size, weighs 12 lb. At a distance of five yards the breastplate repeatedly caught a bullet fired from a rifle, stopping it without perforation on the further side. Herr Dowe then offered to stand behind the breastplate, but. thiswas very properly refused. There seems to be no doubt that the cushion is impenetrable by rifle-balls, and though it is supposed to be too thick and heavy to be used by infantry, it may be of the greatest service to cavalry and artillery. If it is ever adopted on any large scale we shall, in fact, have gone back to heavy armour, and shall want the heavy, large-boned horses which carried the old knights. There is still some doubt, it may be added, as to how far the breastplate will diminish the effect of the blow which a bullet gives even when it does not penetrate, and how far it would turn a keen-edged sabre.
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