had struck, probably penetrated through, some portion of the lumbar vertebræ in its course from the loin to the intestine. There were no general symptoms to indicate spinal injury, but, four years afterward, the opportunity of a post–mortem examination being afforded, the track of the ball through some of the lumbar vertebræ was distinctly traced.[2] It will often appear, at first examination, that the track of a wound by the cylindro–conoidal bullet, even at full speed, is widely removed from a straight line, especially when this class of injuries is new to the surgeon. It is not difficult to understand the apparent irregularity in the line of the wound, when the many varied positions in which the body and its parts are liable to be placed are called to mind, and if, when making the examination, the surgeon has omitted to place the patient in a similar posture to that he was in when struck. A certain allowance must also be made for the spasmodic actions of the various muscles among themselves, and momentary displacement of other structures, at the instant of receiving the injury. Occasionally, though rarely, an accidental concurrence of circumstances may lead to the conical bullet pursuing a circuitous instead of a direct course, especially when, after traveling a certain distance, its speed has become diminished; and, as round musket–balls are not yet wholly discarded from warfare, it is necessary to call attention to the observations which have been made on this subject. Balls have been known to pass round the outer convex and the inner concave surfaces of the abdominal and thoracic cavities, sometimes forcing their exit at points nearly opposite to those of entrance, sometimes making a complete circuit. Thus, from simple observation of the line of direction of two wounds, a ball may be supposed to have passed through the thorax or abdomen, while really it may not have penetrated the cavity, but only made its way beneath the integument. In like manner, a lung may be supposed to have been traversed by a ball, not merely from the relative position of the wounds of entrance and exit, but also by some of the characteristic signs of such an injury, when really the ball, after entering the cavity of the chest, has rolled round the costal pleura, never penetrating the lung, but at the most bruising its surface. In the same way, balls have been known to travel round the cranium beneath the scalp, and to have found their way beneath the integuments of the neck, without injury to the deeper structures. Dr. Hennen saw a case where a ball was found lying in a wound by the thyroid cartilage. It had made a complete circuit of the neck, and returned to the spot where it had entered. Cases sometimes occur where two openings are found in a man’s shoulder, in such relation that a straight line between them would necessarily pass through the head of the humerus, yet the ball has only made a half circuit, outside the joint.