Foreign bodies were rarely carried into the wounds with the bullet. I saw several instances in which portions of the metal of cigarette cases and of cartridge cases when the bullet had perforated cartridges in the wounded man's bandolier, and in one instance small pieces of glass from a pocket mirror, must have been carried in without any obvious ill effect. Fragments of clothing, on the other hand, in every case caused suppuration: clothing was not often carried in, the khaki linen was perforated with a clean aperture, most commonly a slit; but the thick woollen kilts of the Highlanders, and thick flannel shirts, occasionally furnished fragments. The introduction of large pieces of clothing is a sure proof of irregularity of impact on the part of the bullet. The frequency with which portions of cloth were introduced from the kilt was one of the strongest surgical objections to its retention as a part of the uniform on active service. Retained bullets themselves remained as foreign bodies in a certain number of cases. I cannot say that suppuration never followed the retention of a bullet, since in two of the instances where I saw such removed they lay in a small cavity containing at any rate a 'purulent fluid.' In one of these the bullet was a Martini-Henry, and in both the bullet had been imbedded for some weeks, and had certainly not occasioned a primary suppuration of the wound. The favourable influence of the pure and dry nature of the atmosphere in this campaign must certainly not be underrated, and in support of this influence I think I may say, from the experience of cases that I saw coming from Natal where the climate and surroundings were not so favourable as on the western side, that suppuration was more common and more severe in the moister atmosphere. Putting aside all the above remarks, however, I am inclined to think that a general tendency to primary union and the absence of suppuration will always be a feature of wounds from bullets of small calibre, and that this favourable tendency is attributable to certain inherent characters of the injuries. Of these the nature and small size of the openings, the dry character of the lining of the track due to superficial destruction and condensation of the tissue forming its wall, the small disposition to prolonged primary haemorrhage, and the absence of any great amount of serous exudation during the early stages of healing are the most important.