lieved that the Indian tribes make use of
poisoned arrows, but from the reports of Bill and others, this must be
a very rare custom. Ashhurst states that he was informed by Dr. Schell,
who was stationed for some time at Fort Laramie, that it is the
universal custom to dip the arrows in blood, which is allowed to dry on
them; it is not, therefore, improbable that septic material may thus be
inoculated through a wound.

Many savage tribes still make use of the poisonous arrow. The Dyak uses
a sumpitan, or blow-tube, which is about seven feet long, and having a
bore of about half an inch. Through this he blows his long, thin dart,
anointed on the head with some vegetable poison. Braidwood speaks of
the physiologic action of Dajaksch, an arrow-poison used in Borneo.
Arnott has made observations relative to a substance produced near
Aden, which is said to be used by the Somalies to poison their arrows.
Messer of the British Navy has made inquiries into the reputed
poisonous nature of the arrows of the South Sea Islanders.

Otis has collected reports of arrow-wounds from surgical cases
occurring in the U. S. Army. Of the multiple arrow-wounds, six out of
the seven cases were fatal. In five in which the cranial cavity was
wounded, four patients perished. There were two remarkable instances of
recovery after penetration of the pleural cavity by arrows. The great
fatality of arrow-wounds of the abdomen is well known, and, according
to Bill, the Indians always aim at the umbilicus; when fighting
Indians, the Mexicans are accustomed to envelop the abdomen, as the
most vulnerable part, in many folds of a blanket.

Of the arrow-wounds reported, nine were fatal, with one exception, in
which the lesion implicated the soft parts only. The regions injured
were the scalp, face, and neck, in three instances; the parietes of the
chest in six; the long muscles of the back in two; the abdominal
muscles in two; the hip or buttocks in three; the testis in one; the
shoulder or arm in 13; forearm or hand in six; the thigh or leg in
seven.

The force with which arrows are projected by Indians is so great that
it has been estimated that the initial velocity nearly equals that of a
musket-ball. At a short distance an arrow will perforate the larger
bones without comminuting them, causing a slight fissure only, and
resembling the effect of a pistol-ball fired through a window-glass a
few yards off.

Among extraordinary cases of recovery from