The ball struck the outer condyle just above the articular surface with only enough energy to damage and slightly crack the bone. The injury to the bone and the metallic mark of the impact can be seen just above the outer border of the articular cartilage of the outer condyle.
Plate 134.
Shrapnel—Plate 134.
LOWER EXTREMITY.
Gunshot Wound of the Left Knee,
with Lodgment of the Missile.
The outer tuberosity lay next to the photographic plate, with the knot in the localizing wire on the inside of the leg and farther away from the plate.
The line of projection is transversely through the tuberosities.
The shadow of the ball, as it is somewhat enlarged, not sharply defined, and of medium density, must lie about midway between the lines of the localizing wire or in the popliteal space just above and between the tuberosities, much nearer the popliteal surface than the bone. An accurate localization of the ball in a transverse line, however, would require an exposure of another plate in an antero-posterior line, but in this actual case the localization of the ball had to be made from this single plate, as only one exposure was made.
The ball struck the border of the popliteal space of the femur just above the tuberosity, without energy enough to cause a fracture, deform the ball, or even to leave, as a mark of contact, metal particles of the ball.