The central portion of marrow bones is frequently splintered by projectiles, while thicker flat bones (shoulder blades) are cleanly perforated. Unless a tumbling bullet or a splinter of a bone penetrates the lungs, chest wounds appear in much more favorable forms than in past wars.[127] [127] “A soldier of the 3rd East Siberian Regiment, who had been shot in the chest, for instance, subsequently walked to the nearest railway station, a distance of over 20 km., and felt fairly well except for a slight difficulty in breathing. A lance corporal of the 36th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, having received a similar wound, began his journey to the nearest railway station on a two-wheeled cart. The motion of the cart nauseated him to such an extent, however, that he preferred to complete the journey on foot, a distance of 30 km.” Dr. SELDOWITSCHI in _Wratsch_. According to observations made in the Russo-Japanese war, wounds in joints healed without suppuration, the joint and its mobility being saved. Amputations were extremely rare, and the surgeon’s skill was, as a rule, seldom necessary in the treatment of shot wounds. Chest wounds were slight, and often many men walked a few _versts_ to the dressing station, some of them complaining of difficulty in breathing. As a rule, such wounds healed in fourteen days. Chest wounds were more serious when the heart or the large blood vessels were injured; but even in these cases cures were effected. Abdominal wounds were not so serious as in the past. Contrary to past experience, skull wounds, in which the projectile had passed entirely through the brain, were treated with fair success. The campaigns in South Africa and Manchuria have amply demonstrated that wounds produced by jacketed bullets of small caliber are not so serious as those caused by 11 mm. projectiles. In addition, these campaigns have shown that a further decrease in caliber is undesirable from the tactician’s point of view, for a hit by no means affords the certainty, in every case, of putting a man, much less a horse, out of action.