a certain amount of constriction of the skin may be expected from the addition of the instrument employed in the extraction; but if much resistance is offered to their passage out, it is better to divide the edges of the fascia and skin to the amount of enlargement required than to use force. In removing fragments of shells or detached pieces of bone, the fascia and skin have almost invariably to be divided to a considerable extent. Where the finger is not sufficiently long to reach the bottom of the wound, even when the soft parts have been approximated by pressure from an opposite direction, and when the lodgment of a projectile is suspected, a long silver probe, that admits of being bent by the hand if required, is the best substitute. Elastic bougies or catheters are apt to become curled among the soft parts, and do not convey to the sense of touch the same amount of information as metallic instruments do. The probe should be employed with great nicety and care, for it may inflict injury on vessels or other structures which have escaped from direct contact with the ball, but have returned, by their elasticity, to the situations from which they had been pushed or drawn aside during its passage. The above directions for examining wounds apply more particularly to such as penetrate the extremities, or extend superficially in other parts of the body; where a missile has entered any of the important cavities, search for it is not to be made, but the surgeon’s attention is to be directed to matters of more vital importance to be hereafter noticed.