As to the individual injuries:
1. Wounds in the intestinal area, except in certain directions, often traverse the abdomen without inflicting a perforating injury on the bowel.
2. If the alimentary canal is perforated, injuries in certain segments, even if perforating, may be followed by spontaneous recovery. I should say the prognosis from this point of view is best in the ascending colon, then in the rectum; after these most favourable segments, I should place the others in the following order: stomach, sigmoid flexure, descending colon. As to perforating wounds of the transverse colon and small intestine, I believe spontaneous recovery to be very rare.
3. Wounds of the solid viscera generally, usually heal spontaneously, and give no trouble unless one of the great vessels has been injured. I include in this category all organs except the pancreas, of wounds of which I had no experience.
4. Wounds of the bladder, if of the nature of pure perforations in the intra-peritoneal segment, often heal spontaneously.
5. As a rule, injuries to the organs in their intra-peritoneal course have a far better prognosis than those which implicate the organs in their uncovered portions.
6. The small calibre of the bullet is alone responsible for the favourable results observed.
7. The danger or otherwise of an intestinal injury depends mainly on mechanical conditions; for instance, the fixity of the ascending colon, and its comparative freedom from a covering of small intestine capable by movement of diffusing any infective material, account chiefly for such favourable results as are seen when that segment of the bowel is implicated.
Wounds of the External Genital Organs
Wounds of the scrotum were not uncommon, especially in connection with perforations of the upper part of the thigh. They offered no special feature, beyond the common tendency of every-day experience to the development of extensive ecchymosis.