The fibular side lay next to the plate, as shown by the shadow of the fibula and the calcaneo-cuboid articulation.
As the metallic particles, showing the path of the missile, appear to be next to the plate, the course of the missile was from the external border of the tendo Achillis diagonally downward and forward, causing only a slight fissure of the calcaneus. A missile, to have done so little damage and to have left a metallic track showing its contact with the bone, must have been unjacketed and of low velocity, and therefore a shrapnel ball.
Plate 152.
Shrapnel—Plate 152.
LOWER EXTREMITY.
Gunshot Wound of the Heel,
with Lodgment of the Missile.
The tibial side of the foot lay next to the photographic plate.
The normal size, great density, and sharp outline of the shadow of the shrapnel ball show that it lay also close to the plate and about an inch below the inside of the body of the calcaneus. No metallic particles mark the track of the ball in this case, because the course was parallel to the inner surface of the bursa without forceful, or perhaps any, contact with the bursa, and passing through soft tissue, only.
Plate 153.