140 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
many variations in their gravity. Ordinarily, balls which are incrusted 
in bones are left in; if they are extracted, they must be made loose by 
careful manipulations with the probe or a strong metallic rod; some- 
times the operation is quite difficult, and may demand the use of the 
trephine, the gauge, and the mallet. The special instruments invented 
in former times to extract projectiles are not employed now. 
Fractures of the bones of the face, which are not extensive, also 
those of the spinous processes of the withers, of the point of the hip, 
and of the ischial region are the least dangerous. On the contrary, 
those of the bones of the extremities, which are often comminuted, as. 
well as the articular lesions, are cases of extreme gravity, and are, econ- 
omically, incurable. Wounds of arteries and large veins—cases which 
are rather rare—give rise to an immediate and abundant hemorrhage, 
and ordinarily require the ligature of the injured blood-vessel. 
If, in general, the tissues are tolerant of balls, they are not so of the: 
foreign bodies which the balls have carried with them. For those, ex- 
traction is almost always necessary ; and this should be done with long 
forceps. 
Projectiles of large caliber (boulet, obus), almost always produce 
enormous lesions. At times, they take off a leg or a part of the head; 
at others, they reach the neck or the trunk, thus causing, in nearly 
every instance, irreparable disorders, if not death in a few minutes. 
Even when the thoracic and abdominal walls appeared but little injured, 
the viscera—lungs, heart, liver, and intestines—are contused, bruised. 
or torn, Some regions, however, may be touched side-wise and injured. 
quite deeply, without complications of fracture, injury of large vessels. 
or important nerves, or opening of a natural cavity. These trauma- 
tisms present all the characteristics of serious contused wounds, and. 
must be treated as such. 
Though wounds by fire-arms are ordinarily free from infection, they- 
may be complicated with diffused phlegmons, gangrene, pyohzmia,. 
septicaemia or tetanus. The last two infections are generally the result. 
of an inoculation of the wound, after the injury by the earth, the dust, 
or other matters containing the septic or tetanic germs, 
In cases where treatment is undertaken hygienic measures should not 
be neglected. If the wounded is suffering from the shock, and is weak. 
or depressed, stimulants and tonics should be administered. 
Projectiles, left in the tissues, behave in different ways. There are: 
some which, having reached certain organic cavities (nasal, buccal 
pharyngeal, stomachal or intestinal) or having been arrested in these- 
are eliminated through the natural passages. It is thus that balls which 
have entered the intestines are rejected through the anus. Quénu has. 
related to the Society of Surgery, a case particularly curious: a man 
who had received a ball from a revolver threw it out three weeks later 
