New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-03-23
.vT pooIEs WOUND OF THE HEART

A.. .ry;ousiv revealed that a bullet, which vas |
,,nnosed 10 have fallen from the wound in the chest,
vss feupd imbedded in the substance Of the heart.
The popular idea is that any wound OF the heat il,
necessarily fatal Almoe Immediately. And there are
professional minds which but little in advance of
~ common idea on this subject. 1t has not been
great many years since q professor, in the leading
medical school in the United States undertook to e.
sablisb the fact in The american Journal Of Medical
Scitnce, that any wound Of the heart necessarily
and immediately fatal His essay was based upon the
report Of an extraordinary case which occurred in
Tennessee to which we shall refer presently
We purpose 70 present come curious facts upon
wounds Of the heart which Of interest TO the pub
he and which show very extraordinary results. The
case Of Poole remarkable IS may appear, is an or
aipsry matter compared with some of the examples
we shs present
A physician Of McNsiry County, Tennessee, DIR.
Randall reported many years ago the c.'e Of negro
boy, who was wounded in the chest with q load Of
ehot. The wound given on the 5th Of April, and
the treatment OF the case wa sklinl and very judi
eioua II was directed 10 the relief Of infammatio
of the lung and there indication that the heart
vac wounded. The boy seemed 10 recover regularly
and slowly up 10 the siLty.serentk day wnen he died
suddenly, from over indulgence in ealing. The lung
which was wounded never performed service after
eeiviDg the shot, and the death was due to the cOn1
ton OF the lung In tracOg the of TIE wounds,
after death, the physicians were astonshed at finding
thee sho in The bottom Of the ventrcle and two shot
m the bottom the surice Of the heart The wounds
made in the substance Of the heart were all firmly
healed, ard the internal surface Of the cavities in
which the shot found. betrayed no sign OF hav
ing suffered 10 any way from the presence Of The shot
The boy lived from the 5h of April 10 the nth Of june
or sixty days and the death due to the lung
according 10 the hyscans in the case, and net to the
shot il the heart.
II must be borne in mind, in reading the cases We
ftsI spd
wounds Of the heart such are made by sharp cut
ling weapon, more apt TO De fatal from imneds ste
bemorThage, than wounds made by guDshot. Inc
lster ar The blood vessels and torn arteries bleed
less AL those wounded with clean cu's. The exam
ples we present Of the latter class OF wounds are
therefore, more extraordinary than any from gun
shots.
In the Dictionnoiye Medicole, Savsrd mentions
case in which the left venfrice Of the heart and the
eepum or wall which divided II from the right ven
tricle were pierced through. The man lived four or
five GAYS. clot Of blood undoubtedly closed the
opening at once, and prevented hemorrbsge. In
another csse the right venrice was pierced and the
victim lived FIVE days. Ard, IN another case, sword
was passed through the right veDtricle, the dia
pbraem and liver, ana the man lived until the ninth
cay. Morand exhibited this heart 20 ths French
Academy Of Sciences in 1875. NJ Leveile reports
care in which the left venrcle pierced vertically
ana d wound four five lines in length was made
This victim, lived until the 7ih day. Dehors, Rhodius
and Fantoni mention cases of wounds Of the heart
that not fatal until the l4th, 10TH l1th, and even
the Goth day.
The heart may contract systematically at the mo-
ment The weapon iInicts the damage and thus close
the wound until cot of blood forms and prevents
hemorrhsge. Ambrose Pere, the great French sur
gton, gives remarkable case evidently OF TINS klnd
and a reported by Schenk, III student OF lngol
kts6t, was certainly of this character.
Baron Larrey presented before the Academy SOL
der, the side of whose heart was Jurro'ced by ball,
but the man recovered.
But, probably the most extraordinary case Of gun
shot wound OF the heart occurred at Cincinnati in
1895 d. Simmons reported the case 10 The West
ern Journal Of Medicine and Of the Physical Sciences.
On The 2lst Of December man named Mcguire was
shot in the chest with ball weighing "a to the
pound After being wounded, he chased his antago.
mist with activity for the distance of several rods aud
then became faint, and fell The attention OF the
physicians directed to the possible occurrence of
9anRrene Of the hing and the treatment was designed
to prevent that result. There was no sign, in the
symptoms, Of q wound in the heart. There was great
thirst there is in all gun-shot wounds intense pao
IN the region Of the stomach, AN accelerated pulse,
with prry jerk on the second day; but there
disturbance Of the respiration until the tourth day.
The man dice on the afternoon OF the nth day, or
ninety seven hours after the wound. The exam
iDatoD, after death, revealed remarkable state
Of things in The hear, , About two two and halt
Of heated w0gnd. 1t was not, OF course,
firm, for Dt-pointed probe passed through
this healing material into the right ventrcle of the
heart The internal surface of the ventice exhibited
lacerated wound but trace Of the ball could bs
found. The auricie not wounded, and great mys
terry prev allied the lost trace OF the bali. The
ascending vein, which pours into the RICH, arrcle all
the ascending blood from the lower divisions of the
BODY, and the right ventrcle and aurcle were filed
with what is called coagnlated lymph. The great
mystery in the the entire oes oil all trace OF
the ball. 1t nOs in the ventricle into which had
certainly passed, there any Derceptibe wound
Of the suricle to mark its passage through il. 10 TIM
state of things the large VEN of which have spoken
tied, an the heart and thai part Of the
taken out and placed in water. While they un
derS ding maceration che young man who attend
ing TO the maceraton thought there were evidences
of q bruise on what is called the tricsspid vaive
There lie an oval opening between the right suricl.
and ven'rice which ia closed by this valve. The dis
covery thus made by macerstion gave clue to
search for the ball. "a il had evidently by the pro-
jecte force Of the powder, passed through the ven
triele and into the right surice, through the oval
opening the search for made in the large ven
Of which have spoken the vessel which conveys
the blood from the lower members of the body into
the right aurcle. This vein is the largest in the
human body. The two veins from the right and left
eAtremes unite together opposite the fourth bone in
What Is called the loiDs, and male this Lace
trunk. In the right one of these two veiEs the ball
Was found.
This therefore, is mach more extraordinary case
than Pooles for the cavities Of his heart were not
wounded, and the facts connected with it SHOW how
erroneous the general notions are respecting wounds
OF the heart.
ped, which came under the observation Of physician
al the Virginia Springs. This physician wss fORd of
hunting, and on oDs occasion be killed buck that
vas extraordinarily fat. In opening the animal he
found the heart entirely transfxed with elder stalk
which had run teroggh it, IT evident from ap-
peaances that this elder stick had been in tho heart
for great length of time. The wounds which it had
made In its ingress had all healed perfectly end NO
trace Of inflammation was dscoverabie. There was
NO sign of disease in the substance o. the heart in
which the stalk was fixed. This amin he'd struck
hhnself, at some time violently against this slider,
which uans6xed his heart, and Nature hsd cured him.
Va 81 Ax,A syIE x,allx r.aAa