he main central wound. As the range increases, these
outlying punctures make a wider and wider pattern, until at a distance
of from eighteen to twenty feet from the muzzle, the scattering is
complete, there is no longer any central wound, and each individual
pellet makes its own puncture. From these elementary data, it is usually
possible, from the features of the wound, to arrive at an approximately
accurate conclusion regarding the range at which the gun was discharged,
and this may have an important bearing on the question of accident,
suicide, or murder.

As regards the effects on the tissues at close range, that is, within a
few feet, there is widespread laceration and disruption; if a bone is
struck it is shattered, and portions of bone may be displaced or even
driven out through the exit wound.

When the charge impinges over one of the large cavities of the body, the
shot may scatter widely through the contained viscera, and there is
often no exit wound. In the thorax, for example, if a rib is struck, the
charge and possibly fragments of bone, will penetrate the pleura, and be
dispersed throughout the lung; in the head, the skull may be shattered
and the brain torn up; and in the abdomen, the hollow viscera may be
perforated in many places and the solid organs lacerated.

On covered parts the clothing, by deflecting the shot, influences the
size and shape of the wound; the entrance wound is increased in size and
more ragged, and portions of the clothes may be driven into the tissues.

[Illustration: FIG. 62.--Radiogram showing Pellets embedded in Arm.

(Mr. J. W. Dowden's case.)]

A charge of small shot is much more destructive to blood vessels,
tendons, and ligaments than a single bullet, which in many cases pushes
such structures aside without dividing them. In the abdomen and chest,
also, the damage done by a full charge of shot is much more extensive
than that inflicted by a single bullet, the deflection of the pellets
leading to a greater number of perforations of the intestine and more
widespread laceration of solid viscera.

When the charge impinges on one of the extremities at close range, we
often have the opportunity of observing that the exit wound is larger,
more ragged than that of entrance, and that its edges are everted; the
extensive tearing and bruising of all the tissues, including the bones,
and the marked tendency to early and progressive septic infection,
render amputation compulsory i