Large fragments of heavy shells generally produce immense laceration and separation of the parts against which they strike, but do not carry away or grind, as round shot. Ordinarily, the line of direction in which they move forms an obtuse angle with the part of the body wounded. When they happen to strike in a more direct line, so as to penetrate, the external wound, as alluded to under the head of lodgment of projectiles, is mostly much smaller than the fragment itself, from the projectile not having had force enough to destroy the vitality and elasticity of the soft parts through which it entered. Small projectiles, with force enough to penetrate the body, leave one or more openings, the external appearances of which also vary according to their form and velocity. The appearance of a wound from a rifle–ball, at its highest rate of speed, may be sometimes witnessed in cases of suicide. A soldier, in thus destroying himself, mostly stoops over the muzzle of his firelock, pressing it against the upper part of his body, and springing the trigger by means of his foot. The muzzle is usually applied beneath the chin. In such a case, a circular hole, without any puckering or inversion of the marginal skin, together with dark discoloration of the integument for several inches round, is observed at the wound of entrance. The vertex of the head is shattered; fragments of the parietal and occipital bones, together with small portions of brain, are carried away and scattered about; the bones not broken are loosened from their sutures; the mass of brain is torn to pieces, but held by its membranes; the superficial vessels of the face are distended with blood. These effects are not wholly due to the passage of the ball, but partly to the flame from the ignited gunpowder jetting out at the mouth of the musket, and in part also to the expansive force exerted within the cavity of the cranium, by the gases resulting from the explosion.