mated
centripetally, and a small circular dark spot only remains, which is
later replaced by a small red cicatrix. The dark central spot under
these circumstances consists of the contused margin of the wound in the
skin, and a small proportion of blood-clot which finally comes away as a
small dry scab. When slight local infection occurs in place of simple
contraction and dry scabbing, the process is prolonged, the contused
margin separates by granulation, the clot in the opening breaks down,
and a small ulcer of somewhat larger proportions than the original wound
remains and takes some days to heal.

[Illustration: FIG. 25 (_a_).--_A._ Wound of entry 48 hours after
reception. _B._ Wound of exit, 7-1/2 days after reception. 1. Skin. 2.
Subcutaneous fat carried into the lips of the wound by the bullet. 3.
Infected blood extravasation in subcutaneous tissue. Exact size. (See
plates I. and II.)]

The aperture of exit in simple wounds of the soft parts sometimes heals
even more rapidly than that of entry, and if of the slit form may be
almost invisible at the end of ten days or a fortnight, actual primary
union having taken place as after a simple small incision. Larger or
irregular exit apertures, however, take a longer period to close than
entry wounds, and this is most often observed when the bullet has
undergone deformation within the body, or bone fragments have been
driven out with the bullet.

Fig. 25 (_a_), B (plate II.) represents a section of an infected exit
aperture from a patient who died seven and a half days after its
infliction. Two main points of interest are at once apparent: 1. The
carrying forwards of the subcutaneous fat into the lips of the skin
wound by the bullet. This illustrates the manner in which lightly
supported structures are carried forward by the bullet, and throws some
light on the mode by which vessels and nerves may escape by a process of
displacement. This figure may be compared with fig. 25 (_b_) which shows
a tag of omentum similarly carried forward by a bullet crossing the
abdominal cavity and plugging the exit wound. 2. The second feature of
interest is the amount of haemorrhage into the subcutaneous tissue. In
this respect the contrast between the exit and entry apertures is
marked, since in the latter haemorrhage is scarcely apparent. The
presence of such haemorrhages is explained by the same dragging action as
the extrusion of the fat, and is of course dependent on consequent
r