416 
<3. AKCUfrE STOCK WELL. 
pliances as were at hand, a portion of the skull was excised (suffi¬ 
cient to permit its point to pass within the cranial cavity), when 
the mass was lifted and removed from its bed, and proved to be 
the breech-pin of the gun, a solid mass of iron of above jive 
ounces weight. It was three-and-one-fourth inches long, and jive- 
eighths broad by one-fourth thick along its flattened portion, ex¬ 
cept the breech screw-head, which was jive-eighths in diameter by 
three-fourths long. The screw which passed through this at right 
angles was two-and-seven-eighths long, and was bent at the point 
where it passed through the pin, wedging it tightly, preventing it 
being pushed backward and through the breech by this bend; it 
also stood at an angle of thirty degrees, with its point leaning 
toward the breech-screw head, the portion that lay against the 
vertex.* 
“ In seeking other foreign bodies fully a teacupful of disinte¬ 
grated brain was removed. At the depth of four-and-one-lialf 
inches, actual measurement, two pieces of bone, each something 
more than half an inch square, were found imbedded in the left 
posterior lobe of the cerebrum; several smaller fragments and 
numerous crumbs were also removed.f * * * Then, after 
gently scraping the torn and bruised walls of the cavity, and 
cleansing the edges and surfaces of the membranes, a plug of 
oiled lint was introduced and secured by adhesive straps and 
bandage.” 
Subsequent details are of little moment. Hernia-cerebri, the 
bugbear of authors, supervened, but was freely excised with the 
knife, and the patient was discharged five weeks from the date of 
* In all, the bulk of brain lost could not have been far frem seven or eight 
ounces by measure—fully the latter figure if the estimate of attendants may be 
relied upon! 
f I omit the experiments made to determine the sensitiveness of the cere¬ 
brum. Suffice it to say Shaw readily estimated the character, quantity, tempera¬ 
ture, feeling and position of everything introduced within the brain. A pair of 
surgical scissors he declared felt like “smooth iron or steel,” and that the points 
were the “least bit higher and just between my ears. But the brain was with¬ 
out tenderness. While standing by and watching Dr. Willson, who was con¬ 
ducting these experiments, I expressed surprise at the accuracy of sensation, 
whereupon Shaw laughed and said: “Why, I can feel anything in there just as 
plainly as at any other portion of my body!” 
