In their passages these balls did not wound any of the
viscera, and with the exception of traumatic fever there was no
disturbance of the health of the patient. Schell records the case of a
soldier who was wounded July 3, 1867, by a conoid ball from a Remington
revolver of the Army pattern. The ball entered on the left side of the
abdomen, its lower edge grazing the center of Poupart's ligament, and
passing backward, inward, and slightly upward, emerged one inch to the
left of the spinous process of the sacrum. On July 6th all the symptoms
of peritonitis made their appearance. On July 11th there was free
discharge of fecal matter from both anterior and posterior wounds. This
discharge continued for three days and then ceased. By August 12th both
wounds were entirely healed. Mineer reports a case of a wound from a
revolver-ball entering the abdomen, passing through the colon, and
extracted just above the right ilium. Under simple treatment the
patient recovered and was returned to duty about ten weeks afterward.

There are a number of cases on record in which a bullet entering the
abdominal cavity is subsequently voided either by the bladder or by the
bowel. Ducachet mentions two cases at the Georgetown Seminary Hospital
during the late war in which Minie balls entering the abdominal wall
were voided by the anus in a much battered condition. Bartlett reports
the case of a young man who was accidentally shot in the abdomen with a
Colt's revolver. Immediately after the accident he complained of
constant and pressing desire to void his urine. While urinating on the
evening of the third day, the ball escaped from the urethra and fell
with a click into the chamber. After the discharge of the ball the
intolerable symptoms improved, and in two or three weeks there was
complete recovery. Hoag mentions a man who was wounded by a round
musket-ball weighing 400 grains. It had evidently passed through the
lung and diaphragm and entered the alimentary canal; it was voided by
the rectum five days after the injury. Lenox mentions the fact of a
bullet entering the abdominal wall and subsequently being passed from
the rectum. Day and Judkins report similar cases. Rundle speaks of the
lodgment of a bullet, and its escape, after a period of seven and
one-half years, into the alimentary canal, causing internal
strangulation and death.

Wounds of the liver often end very happily, and there are many cases on
record in which such injuries ha