The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-11-16
Singular Cases of Injury TO the Ilu'
man Body.

curious stories about the human body
especially those which are illustrated
in the army museum at Washington.
Explaining why he entities his article
"Broken Bones" lie says "Broken
EngIishn was the description once APP
piled by Yuch TO the victims Of rail-
way accident. When sy~mpathizers
shipped to the Texan revolulionists
carefully packed ennon and shell, me
bills o! lading dercribed them rs Hol-
low Ware. Sothe meanings OF WORDS,
however common in themselves, de-
pend for force upon their recipient 10
one man-tO you, it may be, amiable
hui prostate reader broken bones
may convey nothing your neighbor
in the country may translate 1t as q
potential fertilizer; to u third party II
may suggest much more than these
pages can develop"
An exceedingly curious, and, so far
as it indicates the possibilities OF ma
ture, instructive specimen, is the lol-
lowing: A solder wa admitted to The
hospital in Baltimore after II OF the
Virginia battles, with loss Of vision m
the
RIGHT EYE,
I although liIc external injury to the or
gan was not remarkable. He could give
mo- special account Of the wound,
or of the course or character OF The
missile. It seemed TO be one OF the
ordinary minor casualties OF a battle
that occur, II cannot tell exactly now
the left eye WAS slightly prominent,
but its functions were unimpalred.
The wound healed speedily, and the
mar was permitted to go about the
city freely ON n hospital pass.
More than two months subsequently
ne died after an illness Of 4 few days.
An examination then showed that a
conodial ball had entered the skull
through the right eye, and was ilrnly
lodged close to and directly bchind
the left eye, Il part Of whose b"ny
casing wpS somewhat broken and dis
placed and that nature had thrown
out new bone sufficiently to plaster il
in it's place, and to nearly entirely
clOse its Oriiicc or entrance. The I'M
mediate cause Of death was Il sinai
absccss in the brain where its special
covering rested upon the bullet But
this must have existed only toward
the close of life and One naturally
iuuilc4, If IL bullet can lie for weeks
without occasioning appreciabIe mis-
chief of being suspected, why may 4
not do 80 for months? who can pre-
scribe the limit Of its existence?
SOME puzzLlNG lNcIDEN5
occasionally happened. one man Ina,
hi.arm broken below, and again above
his elbow, by the same bullet whicl
=. appears strange until il was known
-. that the limb was bent at the time !
was struck. A ~ may be v0uche'
for where one bullet made live open
ings in the skin and did not break
bone. In another u ball lodged in tn
upper part Of the righs thigh, al,
several months afterWar,l it was en-
out from near the left knee. A MAJ
at Mine Ran had two pocket-knivc
. shattered and driven in his thigh
one hundred fragments Of the kniVe
were removed during life, and seveI
: after death, of which there is it'll
doubt that they, and not the bnIlc'
were the direct cause. At Autietam
) a soldier received II bullet III hi
! mouth. After the . battle n sOIdic
> crouched over Il loaded shell, crackin
E. nuts upon it his carciessneSs VAST fol
9 lowed by Il speedy explosion an
death.
Accidents Of this character, due t
, ignorance or folly, were not lrelIei
y in the war. one is described thus:
soldier attempted to solve the que.
ton whether a shell would 60 oil b
o placing it on one side Of Il large tt
o while he, from the other side, street.-The
Y lisurm urOundandstruck it Withah an
IT mcr expecting 30 withdraw his hon
9 quickly enough to avoid injury. III
!. Shell and the arm both went oil. III
n writer once saw two infantry sGldieI
n in front Of Richmond, pick up Nn
~ hurl upon the ground, It few feet l!oi
them, and exploded shell, to dccid
whether il wa4 Of the " timer or u
"uercu4,ionn variety. Raw soldier
" are reckless almost beyond belief.
LuUTENANr OF NOS!Y's
command was captured, Wounde
n near Iiarpcr's Ferry. his right arr
was broken below the shoulder; ut
~ the bullet, which had not been c2
tracted, could not be found. Wht
:, he died, several weeks afLcrward, Il
bullet was discovered lodged in Il
" spine, one of the bones of which
u had ably broken, below the level
n the external wound, where its pre-
i cncc had not been suspected by hinlst
n or his attendants. 1t must, Of cours
n have struck his arm when ii was CEtcI
Is died. in the same line with the back, II
have followed its long axis.
lc When Scdgwick advanced upc
Fredericksburg, in May, 1868, II
rs his men fell without cXpericncil
i. pain aud il was found that his this
=, was broken. He was admitted to Il
- hospital in Washington five days
~ terward,
WHEN THERE WAS No EXTERN
If WOUND.
III Of the thigh, and it was prcsunl,
Ut that the injury came from n spe
round shot. He died in about 5
Of weeks, and the thigh-bone was loul
10 broked and splintered in the midd
4 with n conoidal bullet, itself part
~ split, lodged. A small wound til
-, B." had long been closed was found ne
~ the knee; and the course of the bS
u had been so tortuous that ii had &c
y lapsed upon itself, and no dischar!
l. had indicated the track Of entrance.