WOUNDS. 223 



according to the severity of the injury. A clot is formed, 

 which either causes suppuration or is in due time removed 

 by absorption. A black eye, so common amongst certain 

 classes of men, is also a familiar example of a contused 

 wound. 



Gunshot wounds are of rare occurrence, except during 

 the progress of a war, and then, of course, are of very fre- 

 quent occurrence, and are caused by the discharge or burst- 

 ing of firearms. The reception of a gunshot wound may be 

 followed by inflammation, mortification, resolution, death, etc., 

 or the function of a part maybe partially or wholly destroyed, 

 either at the time the wound is received, or several yeara 

 afterward ; or the part itself may be lost, and the presence 

 of the lead, in cases where it is retained in the tissues, may 

 give rise to a species of slow and progressive poisoning. 



Poisoned Wounds. — This variety of wound most frequently 

 results from the bite of some venomous reptile, as the rattle- 

 snake, copper-head, viper, etc., in America, and the cobra, 

 etc., in India, and may be caused by the immoderate and 

 injudicious use of caustics, as arsenic, etc., being introduced 

 into the part, as is a favourite practice with some in the 

 treatment of spavin, fistulous withers, etc. I have heard of 

 a case in which a poisoned wound of a frightful character 

 was produced by the application of a toad to a splint, by 

 which means it was expected that the splint would be cured, 

 the enlargement disappear, etc. 



Treatment. — The treatment of wounds varies to a con- 

 siderable extent, and is governed by the situation, nature, 

 variety, and extent of the wound under consideration. If 

 it is an incised wound, accompanied by a considerable 

 amount of haemorrhage, the first procedure is, of course, to 

 arrest the haemorrhage. This object is effected in different 

 ways, according to whether the bleeding vessel be an artery 

 or a vein. If the open vessel be an artery, the blood will 



