aller space, and more liable to injury, from
the fact that the slope in which they lie is more readily followed by a
bullet track. Again, the cords rest for a considerable portion of their
course on a bony bed, a particularly dangerous position in gunshot
wounds, since the nerves are not only exposed to the danger of direct
wound, or pressure from bony spicules, but also readily receive
transmitted vibrations secondary to impact of the bullet with the bone.

None the less I had few occasions to observe extensive injuries of the
plexus. In one instance damage particularly affecting the lumbo-sacral
cord occurred, but this was complicated by signs of irritation of the
anterior crural and obturator nerves, as the result of retro-peritoneal
haemorrhage and injury to the psoas muscle. Two cases in which the
sacro-coccygeal plexus suffered isolated injury on account of their
characteristic nature as gunshot injuries will be shortly quoted:

(116) _Sacro-coccygeal plexus._--_Entry_, at the junction of
the middle and posterior thirds of the left iliac crest; the
bullet passed obliquely downwards through the pelvis to lodge 3
inches below the right trochanter major. Incontinence of soft
faeces persisted for five weeks, and retention of urine during
three weeks.

This patient subsequently died on the homeward voyage, but I am
unable to say from what cause.

(117) _Entry_, over third sacral vertebra; _exit_, 2 inches
from the median line, and 1-1/2 inch above Poupart's ligament
on the anterior abdominal wall. Incontinence, with involuntary
passage of faeces, persisted during the first twenty-four hours,
and for two days the urine had to be withdrawn with a catheter.
No further signs of nerve injury were noted.

The same explanation of the comparative rarity of injuries to the sacral
plexus that has been already given in the case of the anterior crural
nerve holds good--viz. that in a great many of the pelvic wounds
involving the plexus early death followed from the severity of the
concurrent injuries.

Injuries to the great sciatic nerve outside the pelvis, or to one of its
constituent elements, on the other hand, formed one of the most familiar
of the nerve lesions. The wounds giving rise to these were of the most
diverse character; some crossed the buttock in a vertical, transverse,
or oblique direction; others travelled through the thigh in
correspondi