Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-07-26
GUN SHOT WOUNDS.
Some Curious Facts - Some Remarkable
Escapes

MafVelOusly-1Or escapes from
gun-shot injuries have been recorded.
Bullets have been known to rebound or
glance off the skin, leaving only dent,
probably from the oblique direction in
which they struck; spent ball strikes
rib and drops out again, or carries in
a portion of clothing before it, rendering
it easy to withdraw. Sir Ashley Cooper
relates two extraordinary instances, in
one of which bullet moving with full
velocity entered the side, and, coming
in contact with rib, was DETECTED from
its course, and ran round under the
skin to the opposite side of the body.
In the other, the bullet struck one tenn
pie, passed over the head to the other,
and never penetrated the skull at all.
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 in
tent. He was said to have held the
weapon only an inch or two from his
ear, and the extensive burning and lac
Grafton 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 an entire absence of "head
symptoms that is, those indications
which point to some lesion of the brain.
So he was put to bed and kept quiet,
without any treatment at all beyond
simple local applications, carefully
watched the while for any untoward
manifestations that might develop
themselves. But nothing came of it,
and in a week or two the man was
nearly well. Then, for the first time,
he complained of pain and stiffness in
the cheek, which, being examined,
showed signs of an impending abscess.
This formed and was opened in due
course, when out dropped the bullet!
Now, how was this to be accounted 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 preserve and strengthen
the hinge of the jaw, as it were. The
bullet, meeting the sharp upper edge of
the arch-there was a mark on the bull
let 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 a
great disproportion had not existed be-
tween the caliber of the pistol-barrel-
an old-fashioned cavalry blunderbuss-
and the size of the ball, which allowed
much of the powders force to be ex-
pended around it.
It is a well-known fact that bullets,
coins and other metallic objects will
occasionally remain impacted in the
flesh for years, without giving rise to
any irritation or annoyance. In a case
which came under my notice inLondon
several years since, a ball had undoubt-
edly passed into the chest, and is I'M
doubtedly there to this day; yet the
patient recovered without any bad
symptoms, and is still alive and we'll.
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 shooting
each other through the heart stimuli
| taneously. SO much was gathered from
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 well
| tering in their blood. one a corpse and
| the other desperately wounded But
when the latter had recovered sufficient
| ly to speak he emphatically denied the
truth Of the allegation that he had
murdered his comrade, and stated that
though he had signed the paper he had
repented of his determination at the
last moment; not so his friend, how
ever, who, seeing both pistols, had shot
him in the breast and killed himself af-
terward \ verdict of willful murder
was returned against him by a Coroner's
jury; but when he was put upon trial,
after long and dangerous illness, 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 I'M
mediately fatal. Cunningham speaks
OF boy who survived for twenty-four
days with the breech of pistol, weigh
ing nine drachms, in his head, lying on
one of the membranes of the brain, and
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