460 WOUNDS. 



which it is with great difficulty extracted in consequence of the 

 small size of the entrance. If the ball penetrate the cancellous 

 tissue near a joint, it will most probably shiver the bone between 

 its course and the joint. 



If it strike a bone obliquely, it may dig out a longitudinal 

 groove without fracture. 



A remarkable circumstance connected with gun-shot wounds is 

 the facility with which the ball may be diverted from its course 

 by the slightest obstacle. Any trifling obliquity of surface, or 

 difference of density in the parts which it traverses, may cause 

 it to take a circuitous route. Thus, a ball may enter on one side 

 of the head, chest, or abdomen, and may pass out at a point 

 exactly opposite, just as if it had gone entirely through the 

 cavity, whereas it may be found to have traversed the whole 

 way beneath the skin. 



It is always important to ascertain whether the shot has 

 passed out of the body or whether it has lodged ; and supposing 

 there are two holes, it must be considered whether they are pro- 

 duced by the entrance and exit of one, or by the entrance of two 

 distinct balls. Sometimes it will happen that a ball splits, either 

 from defect in the casting, or from its striking against some sharp 

 bony ridge ; and although one portion may pass out, another may 

 be lodged within the body. 



It frequently happens that large masses of metal are impacted 

 in the substance of a part, without much external indication of 

 their presence. 



Gun-shot wounds may be complicated by the presence of other 

 foreign bodies besides the ball. Is^. Pieces of saddlery, or of 

 the accoutrements of the horse ; 2d. Pieces of bone or muscle 

 which have become virtually extraneous in consequence of being 

 dead and detached. It must be recollected that although there 

 may be no ball in a gun or pistol, yet that the wadding may act 

 as a ball, if the piece is discharged close to the animal. 



GRAPE-SHOT, 



Striking en masse, produce the effect of cannon balls ; singly, of 

 musket balls. Exploding shells cause fearful lacerations and 

 contusions ; and all of these gun-shot injuries may be compli- 

 cated with severe burns from the explosion of gunpowder, with 

 imburnt gunpowder, and other foreign bodies. 



