COMPARATIVE LESIONS OP BRAIN WOUNBS. 
415 
“ On displacing the bandage we found the left eye slightly 
protuberant, the surrounding tissues bruised and ecchymosed, and 
the forehead generally burned and blackened with powder. To 
the left of the median line appeared a large, irregular, somewhat 
triangular shaped opening, a trifle more than two inches in ex¬ 
treme length, and about fifteen lines in breadth, the upper portion 
tapering to an obtuse point; the narrow base of the triangle cor¬ 
responded to the inner half of the supercilliary ridge of the same 
side. From this opening disintegrated cerebral substance was 
oozing, the man having already lost, according to the testimony 
of attendants, ‘not less than six or eight tablespoonfuls, lieap^ 
ing full.’ 
“ On examination was found the tip of a screw just within 
the skull, the body extending deep into the brain, and an attempt 
to move further revealed its connection with some other substance 
farther back. Introducing a finger, it was found to pass through 
a solid iron block slightly larger than the little finger, and at 
right angles, forming a ‘T.’ This second piece was discovered to 
lie in a slanting direction from below upward and backward—the 
lower portion hooked behind the posterior edge of the roof of 
the left orbit.and the lesser wing of the sphenoid, in the middle 
fossa of the base of the skull, its point projecting into the 
sphenoidal fissure pressing upon the nerves and tissues at the 
posterior portion of said orbit; hence the protrusion of the eye¬ 
ball, and the pain complained of when traction was made upon 
the screw; the other, or superior end, extended to the vertex, 
being firmly jammed upon the under side of the skull imme¬ 
diately to the left of the falx. It was now understood why an 
attempt made to lift the lower arm from behind the lesser wing 
of the sphenoid, by employing the screw as a lever, was futile. 
“ The next indication was to push the screw upward and back¬ 
ward in order to tilt the upper arm of the larger solid backward 
and downward, and thus secure room to lift the whole from be¬ 
hind the sphenoidal wing by a like movement; but this, too, was 
a failure, since the skull at the upper edge of the wound refused 
to allow the point of the screw to pass. 
“ After a vain attempt to shorten the screw with such ap- 
