Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 / Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre

by George Henry Makins

In connection with the latter statement, the rarity of direct sagittal wounds in the hospitals should be mentioned. This is probably to be explained by the facts that wounds in the mid-line of the neck implicated the cervical spinal cord, and that sagittal wounds implicating the vessels were apt to lead more directly to the surface, and thus external hæmorrhage was favoured. A few examples of cervical tracks will suffice to illustrate these remarks:—

(85) Entry (Lee-Metford), below angle of scapula; exit, centre of posterior triangle. Injury to the lung, and hæmothorax. No damage to neck structures.

(86) Entry (Mauser), over Pomum Adami; exit, below right scapular spine. Median and musculo-spiral paralysis.

(87) Entry, a large oval aperture through ninth right rib, 1/2 an inch external to scapular angle; exit, anterior border of sterno-mastoid opposite Pomum Adami. Second entry, opposite angle of mandible; exit, in centre of cheek.

Wound of lung. Musculo-spiral paralysis still persisting at the end of nine months.

(88) Entry (Mauser), 2 inches above left clavicle at margin of trapezius; exit, 1 inch from sternum in left first intercostal space. Contusion of brachial plexus, with mixed signs, which disappeared in two months. No signs of vascular injury.

See also cases of cervical aneurism, &c.

Wounds of the pharynx.—I saw only three cases of wound of the pharynx; in each the injury was in the nasal or buccal segment of the cavity, and in each the soft palate was injured, in two instances the wound being a small perforation.

All three cases belong to the somewhat miraculous class. The first (89) was the only one in which the wound gave rise to subsequent trouble. The second was under the charge of Mr. Bowlby, and will no doubt be more fully recounted by him, as interesting signs of injury to the cervical cord were present. In the third the occipital neuralgia was the only troublesome symptom.

In both cases 90 and 91 the high position of the wound in the fixed portion of the pharynx no doubt accounted for the absence of any infective trouble.