Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-08-02
n BrLLEr WOUNDS.

I, we'll known fact In surgery that
small. deep wounds. such As are made
BY the keen. narrow-bladed ponisid'
athletic or similar weapons are more dan
a.rous and difficult to deal with than
wounds that are comparatively larger
and more open. So, too. with gunshos
wounds. The writer Of this onee saw
. young man shot directly through the
bowels with an ounce muskst ball, the
ball entering one side and passing ont
nj the other. It looked like . mortal
wound. yet the patient was around -
we'll a. ever In . very short time. The
large, smooth ball had merely passed
between the int.s,iuss. knocking them
u, side or the other and cutting none.
whereas . smaller bullet would surely
have passed directly through some Of
the intsstiuss. This il considered .
favorable circumstance at present in the
CAS-. Of President Garfield. the bullet OF
the would.bs assassin being OF unusually
lsre. pistol size. The Hartford c0uranf.
sommsn,ios on this subject. says:
The fact that the assassin used . large
bullet, Instead Of . oommon-siked one.
N very much In the Presidsnt's favor.
Il 10 Q tact that common PEOPLE. not
y.rsed In surgical science. do not realize
that the ANAL ball Il more dangerous
than the large. They call Ii strange
that harm can come OF the Insignificant
bits Of lead carried by q small pocket
pistols. The fact 10 a. stated. however.
and the reason 10 simple. Ia the nrst
place, muskst.bsll wounds are lees
dreaded by surgeons than plstol.ball
wounds, because the musket balls are
apt to 90 clear through. The worst
thing to happen IL for = ball to lodge.
for the prss-nos Of the foreign substance
causes Inflammation, foul gatherings
and discharges. aud blood poisoning.
30, carrying the comparison along. .
large pistol ball 10 more likely TO 60
through than Q ANAL. Hence Il Il less
dangerous. Its only increase OF peril
somes In the fact oil its siEs. which
gives II greater opportunity to cut an
artery. II It does NOT do that. iis
chances OF mischief are less than II II
were smaller. II II does make that cut.
death CONES st once from bleeding. But
the large bullet has not gone clear
through President GsrAsld's body. and
90 the .xplapstion OF its l,ssened dan
ger might not seem to apply. but IL does.
The larger the ball. the larger the hole
Il mskss on its way In. This facilitates
the discharge Of the wound very much.
There iss srestss opportunity for the
Affected spot to get rid Of its " evils.
and 90 heal. This factor II worth con-
siderable In the opinion Of skillful ply
sicians. and 10 ell IN the Prssid-ntis Ia
vor. Thus It happens that the cold.
hioodsd design Of making the work thor
ough BY the use Of . large bullet may
prove the one condition on which rscov.
cry 10 possible.
A i..dins surgeon Of this city has In
his possr ssion . pistol ball. scarcely
larger thar . buck. shot. which killed .
man. aud yet he treated . seldisr. o
alive and we'll. through whom Q bali.
oune. ball msds.s clean hole. going 10
through the lungs and out ct the back.
In this case the hole wal 20 large that
the wound took charge Of itself and
cured. Iu the other the hole wal 90
ANAL that the accumulated matter could
Aet ssesps.