d.
The man was wounded in one of the earlier engagements, a bullet passing
transversely through his leg immediately behind the bones and about half
an inch above the level of the ankle-joint. He recovered, and rejoined
his regiment, only to receive at Paardeberg a second wound, about an
inch lower, which traversed the ankle-joint. On his return to Wynberg he
happened to be sent to the same pavilion, and occupied the same bed he
had left on returning to the front.

The subject of the result of wounds of the joints of the _foot_ has
received sufficient consideration under the heading of wounds of the
tarsus.

The repetition of the fact that, among the whole series of cases on
which this chapter is founded, not a single instance of primary or
secondary excision of a joint, either partial or complete, is recorded,
forms an apt conclusion to my remarks on this subject.

CHAPTER VII

INJURIES TO THE HEAD AND NECK

Injuries to the head formed one of the most fruitful sources of death,
both upon the battlefield and in the Field hospitals. It has been
suggested that the mere fact of wounds of the head being readily visible
ensured all such being at once distinguished and correctly reported,
while wounds hidden by the clothing often escaped detection. When the
external insignificance of many of the fatal wounds of the trunk is
taken into consideration this is possible; but, on the other hand, it
must be borne in mind that the head is in any attitude the most
advanced, and often the most exposed, part of the body, and even when
the soldier had taken 'cover,' it was frequently raised for purposes of
observation. For the latter reasons I believe injury to the head fully
deserved the comparative importance as a fatal accident with which it
was credited.

A number of somewhat sensational immediate recoveries from serious
wounds of the head have been placed upon record. Observation, however,
shows that these, with but few exceptions, belonged either to certain
groups of cases the relatively favourable prognosis in which is familiar
to us in civil practice, or that the wounds were received from a very
long range of fire, and hence the injuries were strictly localised in
character.

ANATOMICAL LESIONS

_Wounds of the scalp._--Nothing very special is to be recorded with
regard to these; they either formed the terminals of perforating wounds,
or were the result of superficial glancing shots. The glancing wounds
were o