When portions of the pelvic parietes are fractured by heavy projectiles, very protracted abscesses generally arise, connected with necrosed bone; and the vital powers of the patient are greatly tried by the necessary restraint and long confinement. The great force by which these wounds must be produced, and the general contusion of the surrounding structures, cause a large proportion sooner or later to prove fatal, notwithstanding the peritoneal cavity may have escaped. Of twenty–nine such cases which came under treatment in the Crimea, sixteen died. Even apparently slight cases, as where a portion of the crest of the ilium is carried away by shell, or ball lodged in one of the pelvic bones, often prove very tedious, from the long–continued exfoliations and abscesses which result. =Penetrating wounds.=—A penetrating wound of the abdomen, whether viscera be wounded or not, is usually attended with a great amount of “shock.” The prognosis will be extremely unfavorable, if there is reason to fear the projectile has lodged in the cavity of the peritoneum; and in all cases the danger will be very great from inflammation of this serous investment. The liability to accumulation of blood in the cavity, from some vessel of the abdominal wall being involved in the wound, must not be forgotten. When, in addition to the cavity being opened, viscera are penetrated, and death does not directly ensue from rupture of some of the larger arteries, the shock is not only very severe, but the collapse attending it is seldom recovered from up to the time of the fatal termination of the case. This is sometimes the only symptom which will enable the surgeon to diagnose that viscera are perforated. The mind remains clear; but the prostration, oppressive anxiety, and restlessness are intense; and, as peritonitis supervenes, pain, dyspnœa, diffused tenderness, irritability of the stomach, distention, and the other signs of this inflammation are superadded. In ordinary wounds from musket–shot, scarcely any matter will escape from the opening of the parietes, the margin of which becomes quickly tumefied; but if any escape, it will probably indicate what viscus has been wounded. If the stomach has been penetrated, there will probably be vomiting of blood from the first. If the spleen or liver be wounded, death from hemorrhage is likely to follow quickly. In some instances patients, however, recover after gunshot wounds involving these viscera, and examples in illustration may be found in various works on military surgery. Two particularly manifest instances, where officers were shot through the liver by musket–balls, occurred lately in India, one at Lucknow, the other at the siege of Delhi: both recovered. The cases are described in the _Indian Annals of Medical Science_ for January, 1859. If the small intestines have been perforated, and death follows soon after from peritonitis, the bowels usually remain unmoved, so that no