■WOUNDS ] 



^rODET?N VETERINARY PRACTICE. 



[WOQXDS. 



nionly a part of the solids surrouiuliiip: the 

 woiimi, ili-aiK'neJ, wliii-h is afterwanls thrown 

 off in tl>o form of sU)ui,'h, and wluch prevents 

 8iH-h woniuls from hi>alini» so readily at 

 first, and makes most of them suppurate. 

 This does not take place equally in every gun- 

 shot wound, nor in every part of the same 

 wound ; and the diHerenco commonly arises 

 from the variety io the velocity of the body 

 projected ; for, where tiie ball has passed witli 

 little velocitv, whicli is sometimes the case at 

 its entrance, but still more frequently at the 

 part last wounded, the injury may often be 

 healed by the first intention. 



Foreign bodies are more frequently met 

 with in gun-shot wounds than any others, and 

 are commonly of three kinds. Firsi, pieces 

 of clothing, leather, part of a girth, or other 

 things which the ball may have forced before 

 it. Secondly, the ball itself. Third/ 1/, loose 

 splinters of bone. It is only when the ball 

 strikes a naked part, does not touch a bone, 

 but goes through and through, that the wound 

 can be free from extraneous matter. Foreign 

 bodies are the cause of numerous unfavourable 

 symptoms, by irritating sensitive parts, and 

 exciting pain, inflammation, haemorrhage, and 

 long suppurations. They are more productive 

 of such evils, the more uneven, pointed, and 

 hard they are. Hence spicula; of bone are 

 always most to be dreaded. 



"When a ball strikes a bone, the concussion 

 produced is another occasion of bad symptoms 

 to be added to those already mentioned. 

 AVhen sliglit, its effects are confined to the 

 part injured. Sometimes they extend to the 

 ueiglibouring joints, in which they produce 

 considerable inflammation, frequently abscesses, 

 and, in many cases, stifl" joint, rendering the 

 animal ever afterwards useless. 



From the circumstance of the inner surface 

 of gun-shot wounds being more or less dead- 

 ened, they are late in inflaming. But when a 

 ball has fractured a bone, and caused great 

 injury to the softer parts, independently of 

 what has been caused immediately by the ball 

 itself, the inflammation will probably rapidly 

 come oii, because the deadened parts will bear 

 no proportion to the laceration, or wound in 

 general. 



"When the ball moves with little velocity, 



not 80 likely to bo fractured, and the parta 

 are less deadened. JIow ever, w hen ihu velocity 

 is just enough to splinter a bono which is 

 touched, the splintering is generally more ex- 

 tensive than if the impetus of the ball had 

 been much greater, which would rather havo 

 taken a piece out. When tho ball moven 

 slowly, it is more likely to be turned by any 

 resistance it may encounter in its passage 

 through parts; ami hence the wound is more 

 likely to take a winding course. When a ball 

 enters a part with great velocity, but is almost 

 spent when it comes out again, in conse- 

 quence of the resistance it has met with, thero 

 may be a great deal of sloughing about the 

 entrance of the wound, and little or none 

 about the exit, owing to the difl'erent degrees 

 of celerity with which the projectile has tra- 

 versed the parts. 



As the ends of the torn vessels are contused 

 and compressed, gun-shot wounds have little 

 tendency to bleed much ; and unless very con- 

 siderable vessels are lacerated, they do not 

 bleed at all : sometimes not in this case. The 

 greatest danger of bleeding is always when 

 the dead parts are detached eight or ten days 

 after the injury. Angular, uneven bodies, sucii 

 as pieces of iron, cut lead, &c., always occa- 

 sion far more dangerous wounds than round 

 even bodies, like leaden bullets. Wounds oc- 

 casioned by small, are frequently more perilous 

 than others produced by larger balls, because 

 their track is so narrow that it cannot be 

 traced, nor the extraneous body itself so easily 

 extracted. Such a shot oftentimes injures a 

 viscera, when there is not the smallest ex- 

 ternal symptom of this being the case. Some- 

 times a great part of the danger arises from tho 

 number of shots whicli have entered. 



In treating for gun-shot wounds, the first 

 thinf" to be done is to ascertain, if possible, 

 their extent; which is, at all times, best done 

 with the finger, in preference to a probe. 

 Besides, in extracting the ball, or any foreign 

 piece of matter, which ought always, at once, 

 to be extracted, the finger will act as a 

 director. If extraneous substances remaining 

 in the wound, either loosen gradually, and 

 come into view, they may be easily removed ; 

 but if they be easily removable, or continue 

 concealed, they may prevent the cure, and 



the mischief is generally less ; the bones are | frequently give birth to a fistulous ulcer. In 



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