The advantage also of the satisfaction to the mind of a patient from whom a ball has been removed must not be overlooked; for men suffering from gunshot wounds are invariably rendered uneasy by a vague apprehension of danger, for some time after the injury, if the missile has remained undiscovered. When a gunshot wound has been accompanied with much laceration and disturbance of the parts involved in the injury, it is necessary, after the removal of all foreign substances that can be detected, to readjust and secure the disjointed structures as nearly as possible in their normal relations to each other. The simplest means—strips of adhesive plaster, light pledgets of moist lint, a linen roller, favorable position of the limb or part of the body wounded—should be adopted for this purpose. Pressure, weight, and warmth should be avoided as much as possible in these applications, consistent with the end in view. It must not be forgotten, in thus bringing the parts together, that the purpose is not to obtain union by adhesion, which cannot be looked for, but simply to prevent avoidable irritation and malposition of parts, during the subsequent stages of cure by granulation and cicatrization. In all gunshot wounds, much discomfort to the patient is prevented by carefully sponging away all blood and clot from the surface adjoining the wound, and by adopting measures to prevent its spreading again in consequence of oozing. This can be readily done with the aid of a little warm water, and arrangement when the wound is first dressed, but can only be accomplished with considerable inconvenience after the thin clots have become hard and firmly adherent to the skin.