A Treatise on Gunshot WoundsLongmore, T. (Thomas), Sir
History
A Treatise on Gunshot Wounds
Longmore, T. (Thomas), Sir
Gunshot wounds
=Pain.=—A gunshot wound by musket–shot is attended with an amount of
pain which varies very much in degree according to the kind of wound,
condition of mind, and state of constitution of the soldier at the time
of its infliction. It will sometimes happen in simple flesh wounds,
that patients will tell the surgeon they were not aware when they were
struck; and examples attesting the truth of such statements occur, of
soldiers continuing in action for some time without knowing they had
been wounded. Sometimes the pain from the shot is described as a sudden
smart stroke of a cane; in other instances as the shock of a heavy
intense blow. Occasionally the pain will be referred to a part not
involved in the track of the wound. Lieutenant M. of the 19th Regiment
was wounded by a musket–ball at the assault of the Redan, on the 8th
of September, 1855. His sensations led him to imagine that the upper
part of his left arm was smashed, and he ran across the open space in
front of the works, supporting the arm which he supposed to be broken.
On arriving at the advanced trench, he asked for water; on trying to
drink, he found that his mouth contained blood, and that he was unable
to swallow. The arm, on examination, was found to be uninjured, but
a ball had passed from right to left through his neck, and from its
direction had no doubt struck some portion of the lower cervical or
brachial plexus of nerves. Immediately after the transit of a ball, the
sensibility of the track and parts adjoining is found to be partially
numbed, so that examination is borne more readily for a short time
after the accident than at any later period. Of course, after reaction
sets in, or when inflammation has become established, the pain of the
wound is proportionably increased. When a ball does not penetrate, but
simply inflicts a contusion, the pain is described to be more severe
than where an opening has been made by it.
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