GUNSHOT WOUNDS. 
273 
it will be desirable for you to do so, for objects of this nature will 
become sources of irritation in subsequent stages of the proceed¬ 
ings. When, however, you cannot get rid of them without 
tedious search, or extensive incisions, you had better leave them 
alone. It often happens that bullets are driven far into the body, 
and, without being detected after the infliction of the wound, 
they remain in the situation to which they reached in the first 
instance, and actually continue there for a number of years with¬ 
out exciting any irritation in the part. It frequently happens 
that the direction of a bullet, on entering the body, is diverted ; 
it does not go straight through from one surface to the other: it 
does not pursue a straight course, but it will be diverted from its 
regular direction by striking against a bone, or meeting with a 
tendon, or the convex surface of a muscle; and, indeed, so much 
so, that the mere external opening of the wound, and the direc¬ 
tion which the bullet seemed to have taken on first entering the 
body, do not give you any means of tracing out the part at which 
it has arrived. In many cases you cannot find out where the 
bullet is seated, so that you have not the means of tracing it. 
After the reasons I have given you, it is not worth while to make 
any great search for the foreign body. It is better to leave the 
thing alone, for you find that no very serious effect is produced 
by its presence. For the first few days after the infliction of such 
a wound, you cannot do better than keep the part covered with 
a cold, wet cloth. That is the most likely mode to prevent in¬ 
flammation. If the cold should be unpleasant to the patient, 
you may apply a poultice. As to the posture of the limbs, you 
should adopt the position best calculated for its quiet. With 
regard to the state of the patient’s body, diet, and all other such 
circumstances, you should adopt that plan which is most likely 
to prevent the occurrence of inflammation, for that is the great 
source of danger in such cases. Under certain circumstances, it 
will be necessary for you to adopt very active antiphlogistic 
means. Where a part of great importance is the seat of injury, 
and where the injury is very considerable, you must have recourse 
to them. Such, then, are the means that you should employ in 
gunshot wounds.” 
lo Mr. Baker the Association and the profession are much in¬ 
debted for his valuable Essay on OOsletric Auscultation. In the 
