although they will at times run along a continued surface, as the length of a bone, along a muscle, or a fascia, to a very extraordinary distance. If there is nothing to check its course, and if its momentum be very great, it is surprising what a variety of parts may be injured by a musket ball. Dr. _Hennen_ states that in one instance, which occurred in a soldier, who having his arm extended in the act of endeavouring to climb up a scaling ladder, had the centre of his humerus pierced by a ball, which immediately passed along the limb, and over the posterior part of the thorax, coursed among the abdominal muscles, dipped deep through the glutæi, and presented on the fore part of the opposite thigh, about midway down. In another case, a ball which struck the breast of a man standing erect in the ranks lodged in the scrotum. The propensity of balls to take a curved direction is often seen in their course on a concave surface; in short, they take very unusual and deep-seated routes, not at all to be accounted for by any preconceived theories drawn from the doctrine of projectiles, nor to be explained by diagrams founded upon mathematical rules. These considerations ought to render the Surgeon very cautious how he delivers his opinion, as to the direction in which the shot was fired, and yet instances frequently occur where no difficulty can arise upon this point, such was the case of _Richard Annesley_, tried for the murder of _Thomas Eglestone_ (9 _Harg. Sta. Tri._ 327). The deceased was a poacher. _Annesley_ who was in company with the game-keeper, stated in his defence, that his gun had accidentally gone off in his attempt to secure the deceased. The instructions given by the Court on this occasion was that if the jury were of opinion that the gun had so gone off accidentally, they should bring in a verdict of _Chance-medley_, which was returned accordingly, in consequence of the evidence of the Surgeon who had examined the wound, and stated that its direction being upwards, very satisfactorily proved that the fowling-piece had not been levelled from the shoulder, which would have implied design; but must have been discharged at the trail, which must have been accidental.[107] An idea long existed that a ball might produce injury without striking any part of the body; this was supposed by some to arise from the violent commotion produced in the air by the rapid motion of the ball; and by others, to depend upon an electrical shock on the parts, in consequence of the ball being rendered electrical by friction in the calibre of the gun, and giving off the electrical matter as it passes by. This, however, is contrary to all our received notions respecting electricity; metals can never acquire such a property by friction. In avowing our total disbelief in the existence of such _wind-contusions_, as they have been called, we are well aware that we shall oppose many very respectable authorities. “_Amicus Plato, sed magis amica Veritas._”