If balls are impacted in bone, as happens in the spongy heads of bones, in bones of the pelvis, and occasionally, though rarely, in other parts of long bones, they should be removed. This can be effected by means of a steel elevator, of convenient size; or, should this fail from the ball being too firmly impacted, a thin layer of the bone on one side of the ball may be gouged away, so that a better purchase may be obtained for the elevator, in effecting its removal. The fact is now fully established that, although in a few isolated cases balls remain lodged in bones without sensible inconvenience, in the majority the lodgment leads to such disease of the bony structure as often to entail troublesome abscesses, and in some instances eventually to necessitate amputation. The lodgment of balls will not often occur without extensive fracture in warfare where rifled arms of such force as the Minié or Enfield are the chief weapons employed, but will not unfrequently be met with in such campaigns as have lately happened in India. Should there be reason for concluding that a ball or other foreign body has lodged, but after manual examination, and observation as well by varied posture of the part of the body supposed to be implicated as by indications derived from the patient’s sensations, effects of pressure or injury to nerves, and all other circumstances which may lead to information, should the site of the lodgment not be ascertained, the search should not be persevered in to the distress of the patient. Neither, although the site of lodgment be ascertained, if extensive incisions are required, or if there is danger of wounding important organs, should the attempts at extraction be continued. Either during the process of suppuration, by some accidental muscular contraction, or by gradual approach toward the surface, its escape may be eventually effected; or, if of a favorable form, and if not in contact with nerve, bone, or other important organ, it may become encysted, and remain without causing pain or mischief. When John Hunter wrote on gunshot wounds, he remarks, the practice of searching after a ball, broken bones, or any other extraneous bodies, had been in a great measure given up, from experience of the little harm caused by them when at rest, and not in a vital part; and he himself advises, even when a ball can be felt beneath skin that is sound, that it should be let alone, chiefly on the ground that two wounds are more objectionable than one, and that the extent of inflamed surface is proportionably increased by incision. More extensive experience has, however, shown that not only is the risk of subsequent ill results greater in those cases where foreign bodies remain lodged than when they have been cut out, but also that the advantages of a second opening for the escape of the necessary sloughs and discharges greatly preponderate over the disadvantages connected with it, as regards the additional extent of injured surface.