The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-09-12
Gun-ShOt Wounds.

1t appears that the pain Immediately
produced by the passage of a bullet is
usually slight. In some cases it is not
felt at the entrance wound, but only
at the of exit. "A private of the
Seventh FusilierS was in face of the
enemy at lnkerman. a bullet pierced
the lower and outer part of his neck,
and tore its way out behind, between
the upper angle of the scapula and the
spine. An officer of the Second Battal-
ion Rifle Brigade was behind him. No
idea of having been shot entered the
the ~private's mind. He was not even
aware of the wound he had received in
front, but his sensations led him to
uppos that the officer behind had
pricked him with the point of his
sword in the back. He turned round
instantly to learn what this was done
for, and was in time to see the officer
in the act of falling. The bullet which
had just passed through his w neck
had struck the office IN the head and
killed him. Serious and even Ia al
injuries have not unfrequently beeL
caused by the blow of a cannon ball,
which has grazed the body without
breaking the skull. 1t was the custom
formerly to attribute such Commissions
to the ''wind of the shot" Various
theories were framed to account for
this result, by the condensation of the
air surrounding the missile, or the
which followed in its track,
or by the electricity which it was sup
posed to generate. "All these hypo-
theses are now abandoned by military
surgeons, though a strong belief In
them still exists in the minds of many
cOmbatant officers" 1t is certain that
a cannon-ball may go quite close to
the body without causing it any harm.
Thus at Bayonne a 32-pounder shot
passed between che outstretched thighs
of an artillery officer at the time he
was sighting a gum, and he sustained
no damage except the loss ofthe tail of
his uniform coat. One result of the
improvement of firearms has been to
diminish considerably the chances of
Judgment of bullets in the body. Out
of 727 gun-Shot wounds observed In
the hospital at Charlsruhe during the
Franco-German war, 1t was calculated
that the bullets had lodged in only IL
per cent. Such wounds, however, are
not less dangerous, inaSmuch as por-
tons of the clothing and accoutre-
ments usually remain in the track of
the bullet, as we'll as splinters of bone,
which act as injuriously as foreign
bodies. 1t is therefore very necessary
that a careful examination should be
made as soon as possible, so that such
sources of irritation may be removed.
Occasionally the patient himself may
be able to throw some light upon the
matter, and render further investiga-
ton super1uous. Witness the story of
a surgeon, ''who after long explora-
ton of a gun shot wound and much
torture of his patient happening to re-
mark that he must give up further
search for the bullet, was addressed
with much bitterness by the wounded
man iii the following terms is that
what you have been doing all this
time? Why didn't you ask me about
it: | have got the bullet in my pock-
et.' The mode of dressing gun shot
injuries has undergone many changes.
AT one time it was thought that there
was a peculiar poisonous influence
exercised by the missile upon the sur
rounding tissues and the constitution
of the sufferer. Although Ambrose
Pare in 1916 published a treatise to re-
flute this error, we find traces of the
belief still existing even in the present
centusy. Hence arose the cruel prac-
tice of pouring boiling oil into the
wound to burn out the venomOus sub
stauce.-IWe 1ntIenRUm.