At the point of first impact the posterior faciculus of the internal lateral ligament was severed. The missile therefore passed directly through the ankle joint, entering just behind the tip of the external malleolus, coursing over the posterior portion of the superior tibial articulation of the astragalus in front of the tendo Achillis to strike the upper articular surface of the external malleolus, with the resulting fracture. By this mechanism, the joint mortise has been widened by outward displacement of the external malleolus, while the rupture of the internal lateral ligament permitted the outward rotation of the astragulus, thus producing rather faithfully, by direct violence, a condition which might be called a “simulated Pott’s fracture” of the first degree. By the metallic path of the missile it is known that its soft metal mass was not protected by a hard metal jacket; by the slight damage done to the bone, which lay directly in its path, its velocity and consequent energy are revealed as very slight; by the absence of larger metallic fragments it is shown that the missile was not deformed nor robbed of its energy through ricochet; and as only these conditions can be furnished by a lead ball, undeformed and traveling at low velocity, the missile was a shrapnel ball. [Illustration: Plate 149.] SHRAPNEL--PLATE 149. LOWER EXTREMITY. Multiple Gunshot Wound of the Leg. This plate exhibits the characteristic marking of the metal particles of a shrapnel ball scraped off by contact with the bone, showing the course of the ball in relation to the bone. The evidence that two shrapnel balls struck the tibia without causing a fracture indicates that the velocity of shrapnel balls is, sometimes at least, very low and that this low velocity may occur at a comparatively short range from the point where the shrapnel balls are discharged from the chamber or near the apex of the “cone of dispersion.” Such multiple wounds are caused before the balls have been so widely dispersed as when they arrive at the base of the “cone of dispersion.” [Illustration: Plate 150.] SHRAPNEL--PLATE 150. LOWER EXTREMITY. Gunshot Fracture of the Left Astragalus, with Lodgment of the Missile. The external border of the foot lay next to the plate, as is shown by the articulation of the cuboid. A fragment detached from the posterior inferior border of the astragalus and several small metal particles lying behind the fragment are in evidence. The enlarged shadow of the ball indicates that it does not lie close to the plate, and it must then lie at least as far away as the internal surface of the calcaneus and at a depth from the sole that can be measured on the plate. [Illustration: Plate 151.] SHRAPNEL--PLATE 151. LOWER EXTREMITY. Gunshot Fracture of Left Calcaneus. The fibular side lay next to the plate, as shown by the shadow of the fibula and the calcaneo-cuboid articulation.