I am inclined to attribute the change to two reasons: first, I believe that the use of regulation weapons was more universal in the earlier part of the war, while later, as more men were engaged, the Martini-Henry came more into evidence, and the Boers took more freely to the use of sporting rifles and ammunition. Another element also in the less clean punctures of the short and cancellous bones was probably the less accurate and hard shooting of the Mauser rifles as they became worn; the bullets seemed to evidence this by the comparative shallowness of their rifle grooves, which, I take it, would mean less velocity and accuracy in flight. This would be of importance, since the clean puncture of cancellous bone was no doubt favoured by a high rate of velocity. The special features of the fractures caused by the small-calibre bullets were: (1) The nature of the exit wound, which in a certain proportion of the cases exhibited the so-called 'explosive' character. (2) The presence, in a marked degree in the severe cases, of the condition spoken of in Chapter III. as 'local shock.' (3) The striking contrast of clean perforation and extreme comminution in different cases. (4) The occasional occurrence of fractures of a very high degree of longitudinal obliquity. (5) The rarity of any that could be termed transverse fractures. (6) The general tendency of longitudinal fissuring when it occurred to stop short of the articular extremities of the bones. It will perhaps be most convenient to consider first the explanation of the development of the so-called explosive apertures, and then to pass on to a general consideration of the types of fracture commonly met with, before proceeding to the description of the injuries to the separate bones. _Explosive wounds in connection with fractures._--The aperture of entry in these injuries presented little or no deviation from the normal, unless it was due to the passage of ricochet bullets, when it might be very irregular, but usually not of great size. [Illustration: FIG. 47--(21) 'Explosive' Exit Wound of Forearm over margin of ulna. Note creased tongue of skin originally covering whole wound. The entry wound was a small typical circular one] The aperture of exit offered special features beyond simple increase in size. First of all, as in the small type wounds, the actual extent of destruction of the skin was small, this having been projected outwards by the passing bullet and then either burst or torn by the bullet and accompanying bony fragments. Fig. 47 well illustrates this feature. A triangular tongue of skin was lifted by the passing bullet and probably by the lower end of the upper fragment of the fractured ulna; through the resulting opening a mass of soft tissues and bone fragments, bound together by an infiltration of coagulated blood, was extruded, separating the lateral lips of the aperture, while the original tongue has shortened and retracted up to the top of the wound.