COMPARATIVE LESIONS OF BRAIN WOUNDS. 
359 
most an entire cerebrum or cerebellum, or a goodly portion of the 
medulla oblongata, may yet be sacrificed and again reproduced! 
With such evidences, derived from vivisections of lower vertebrates, 
does it not appear that, so far as the cranial cavity is concerned, 
we have been wilfully blind and disreputably negligent? 
Again medical literature abounds with examples both among 
the higher and lower ranks of Mammalia, wherein the cranial 
vault has been fractured or fissured in all conceivable localities; 
its walls broken down, comminuted,and large portions removed ; 
arteries ruptured, meninges torn, sinuses opened, ventricles entered, 
and entire lobes of the cerebrum destroyed: yet recovery fol¬ 
lowed and the victims were enabled to return to their former 
walks of life, none the worse for the experience save perhaps in 
the one item of suffering. A file of one journal for forty years 
exhibits no less than twenty-seven recoveries of this class, yet not 
in a single instance, as far as discoverable, were the lessons heeded, 
nor were the circumstances commented upon in any other way 
than ‘‘Extraordinary ! ” 
In studying perforating injuries of the cranial vault, whether 
the result of accident or experiment, the almost axiom is evolved 
(paradoxical as it may seem) that the more extended and severe 
the injur}^, the greater the prospects for recovery; that when the 
cranial walls are crushed and comminuted, and the brain subjected 
to extensive lacerations—that when the force procuring the in¬ 
jury has been sharp, rapid and incisive—a liberal prognosis may 
safely obtain ! 
Why is this ? Simply because in such instances the bone is 
not given opportunity to equalize the force of the blow and thus 
transmit the vibrations thereof to parts remote from the seat of 
injury ! It is the reverse of this that procures concussion and 
contusion, and these two are the most fatal of all factors con¬ 
nected with cranial and intra-dural traumatisms. Deliberated, 
ponderous blows of trifling momentum invariably secure con¬ 
cussion and contusion ; a sharp instrument forcibly applied will 
produce less comminution than its duller fellow ; the sand bag or 
club is more dangerous than the sabre and the axe; and the stone 
more fatal than the bullet ! 
