GUN-SHOT WOUNDS. 461 



SMALL-SHOT, 



Discharged from a fowling-piece or pistol, produce different 

 effects, according to the distance at which they strike. If the 

 distance is great, they will, in all probability, be scattered and 

 fall singty, peppering the animal smartly, but not penetrating 

 beyond the subcutaneous tissue, nor doing much harm, unless 

 the eyes be wounded. But if the distance is small, so that 

 they strike en masse, their effects are far more destructive than 

 those of a bullet, for they spread in the flesh, and so cause 

 great laceration, besides the mischief arising from their presence 

 in the tissues. 



PROGRESS AND CONSEQUENCES OF GUN-SHOT WOUNDS IN 

 FAVOURABLE CASES. 



Inflammation generally comes on in from twelve to twenty- 

 four hours after a gun-shot wound of some common part. The 

 wound becomes swelled, stif!', painful, and exudes a reddish serum. 

 On the second or third day pus begins to be formed, but the 

 suppuration is limited by exudation of lymph around the wound. 

 About the fifth day the parts in the immediate track of the ball 

 which have been killed by the violence of the contusion begin to 

 separate, and change from a blackish-red to a brownish-yellow 

 colour ; and from the ninth to the fifteenth day (sooner or later) 

 the slough is thrown off. In the meantime granulations form, 

 the wound contracts and becomes impervious at the centre, and 

 heals up with a depressed cicatrix. 



In some cases, through unfavourable accompanying circum- 

 stances, as want of timely attention- improper applications, &c., 

 the local and constitutional symptoms are much more formidable. 

 The pain, redness, and swelling are more severe, the wound dry, 

 and fever violent. When suppuration is established, instead of 

 being confined to the track of the ball, it is diffused amongst the 

 neighbouring muscles and under the fasciae, forming numerous 

 and irregular sinuses, so that the case may be in hand for many 

 months. If the ball or any other foreign body remain lodged, 

 the present inflammation and constitutional disturbance will be 

 proportionately severe, and the resulting suppuration more pro- 

 fuse and accompanied by more pain, till the exciting cause is 



