River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-09-21
GuN.sHOT WOUNDS.
some Curious Facts-Some Rem ark
able Escapes.

SOWc dCtH-SOMsV go -
able Escapes.
Marvelously fortunate escapes from
gun-shot wounds have been recorded.
Bullets have been known to rebound
or glance off the skin, leaving only a
dent, probably from the oblique direc-
ton in which they struck spent ball
strikes rib and drops out again, or
carries i'll a portion of the clotsing
before it, rendering it easy to withdraw.
Sir Ashley Cooper relates two extraor-
binary instances, in one of which a
bullet moving st full velocity entered
the side, and, coming in contact with q
rib, was DETECTED from its course, and
ran round under the skin to the OPP
positc side Of the body. In the other.
the bullet struck one temple, passed
over the head to the other, and never
penetrated the skull.
The following case occurred in the
practice of an eminent surgeon, whose
pupil / was. A man was brought TO
him who had shot himself in the side
of the head with pistol, with suicidal
intent. He was said to have held the
weapon only an inch or two from his
ear, and the extensive burning and
laceration of the skin bore evidence to
the truth of the statement; there was
ragged bullet hole; nevertheless, no
fracture of the bone could be detected,
and there was al entire absence of
''head symptoms"--that is, those indi-
cations which point to some lesion of
tho brain. So he was put up to bed
and kept quiet, without any treatment
at all beyond simple local applications,
carefully watched the whilefor any I'M
toward manifestations that might de-
velop themselves. But nothing came
of it, and in q week or two the man
was nearly well. Then, for the first
time he complained of pain or stiff
ness in the cheek, which, being exam
ined, showed signs of an impeding alb
cess. This formed and was opened in
due course. when out dropped the bull
let! Now, how was this to be account
ed for? At the side of the head is an
arch of bone, known technically as the
zygoma: it may be seen in the skulls
of animals, and serves to protect and
strengthen the hinge of the jaw, as it
were. The bullet, meeting the sharp
upper edge OF this arch--there was a
mark on the bullet caused probably
by the bone-was turned suddenly
downward at right angles, and lodged
in the thick muscles of the upper part
of the cheek. But this would never
have occurred if great disproportion
had not existed between the caliber of
the pistol barrel-an old fashioned cav
airy blunderbuss-and the size of the
ball which allowed much of the pow
der's force to be expended around it.
1t is well-known fact that bullets,
coins and other metallic objects will
remain impacted in the flesh for years,
without giving rise to any irritation or
annoyance. In case which came
under my notice in London several
years since, ball had undoubtedly
passed into the chest, and is undoubt-
eddy there to this day; yet the patient
recovered without any bad symptoms,
and is still alive and well.
Two German students, being in love
or in debt, but in any case in despair
and wearied of the world, agreed to
put an end to their troubles by shoot
ing each other through the heart stimuli
taneously. So much was gathered
from q paper signed by both of them,
found on their table when the police,
alarmed by the double explosion, broke
into the room where they lay on the
floor weltering iii their blood, one a
corpse and the other desperately
wounded. But when the latter had
recovered sufficiently to speak, he en-
phatically denied the truth of the al
legation that he had murdered his
comrade, and stated that though he
had signed the paper he had repented
of his determination at the last mo-
ment; not so with his friend, however,
who, seeing both pistols, had shot him
in the breast and killed himself after
ward. A verdict of willful murder
was returned against him by q coro.
ner's jury; but when he was put upon
trial, after long and dangerous i'll
ness, he was allowed the benefit of the
doubt "a decision at which no one will
cavil much.
Hennen states that he has seen five
cases in which bullets were lodged
within the skull and did not prove inn
mediately fatal; Cunningham speaks
of a boy who survived twenty-four
days with the breech of a pistol, weigh
ing nine drachms, in his head, laying on
one side of the membranes of the brain,
and resting against the concavlty of
the occupit; while DIR. O'Callaghan has
recorded the remarkable case of an
officer who lived seven years with the
breech of fowling- piece, three ounces
in weight, lodged in his forehead, and
actually supporting the right henri
sphere of the brain.-Odn,berS' Jour-
nal.