to escape by displacement, and was more widely torn when wounded;
again, that inexact impact led to increase of size in the external
apertures, and the bullet was of course more often retained.

Mr. Watson Cheyne[19] published a very remarkable instance of one of the
dangers of an injury from a spent bullet, in which, in spite of
non-penetration of the abdominal cavity, the small intestine was
ruptured in two places.

I believe the majority of the wounds designated as explosive were the
result of the passage of large leaden bullets, either of the
Martini-Henry or Express type. The small opportunity of observing such
injuries in the hospitals of course depended on the fact that the
majority were rapidly fatal.

_Nature of the anatomical lesion in wounds of the intestine._--The
openings in the parietal peritoneum tended to assume the slit or star
forms, probably on account of the elasticity of the membrane. A diagram
of one of these forms is appended to fig. 89. In this instance the
opening in the peritoneum was made from the abdominal aspect, prior to
the escape of the bullet from the cavity, and on the impact of the tip,
the long axis of the bullet was oblique to the surface of the abdominal
wall.

In the intestinal wall the openings varied in character according to the
mode of impact.

In some cases the gut was merely contused by lateral contact of the
passing bullet. The result of this was evidenced later by the presence
of localised oval patches of ecchymosis. These were identical in
appearance with the patches shown surrounding the wounds in fig. 87.

[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Lateral Slit in Small Intestine produced by
passage of bullet. Slit somewhat obscured by deposition of inflammatory
lymph. (St. Thomas's Hospital Museum)]

More forcible lateral impact produced a split of the peritoneum, or of
this together with the muscular coat. Such a lateral slit is shown in
fig. 85, although the clearness of outline is somewhat impaired by the
presence of a considerable amount of inflammatory lymph.

Fig. 86 exhibits a lateral injury of a more pronounced form. The bullet
here struck the most prominent portion of the under surface of the
bowel, and produced a circular perforation not very unlike one produced
by rectangular impact, except in the lesser degree of eversion of the
mucous membrane. Here again the appearance is somewhat altered by the
presence of a considerable amount of lymph, but this is of less
impor