In this case the location of the shrapnel ball would furnish unquestioned evidence; or, if a shrapnel ball had produced this particular bone destruction, its path among the fragments would have been marked by traces of lead. Two metal fragments indicate that the lead core of the bullet was exposed.
The wound, not infected, was treated expectantly.
Result in such cases is favorable.
Plate 12.
Rifle—Plate 12.
UPPER EXTREMITY.
Gunshot Fracture of the Humerus.
The course of the missile was anteroposterior through the middle of the arm.
The ballistic conditions and lines of force applied to the bone were somewhat, if not entirely, similar to those producing the fracture shown in [plate 11]. The missile struck the wall of the shaft without passing through the medullary canal, but a secondary fragmentation of the two large fragments did not follow except for the breaking of the tip of the distal fragment.