Types of fracture.—The common types of fracture of shafts of the long bones are illustrated diagrammatically in fig. 50. Of the whole series comminuted fractures were by far the most frequently met with, while the various wedge-shaped forms were the most strongly characteristic of the special form of injury in which we are interested.
Fig. 50.
Five Types of Fracture: A. Primary lines of stellate fracture; wedges driven out laterally and pointed extremities left to main fragments. B. Development of same lines by a bullet travelling at a low degree of velocity; suppression of two left-hand limbs and substitution of a transverse line of fracture; a spurious form of perforation. See plate XXIII. C. Typical complete wedge. See plate VII. D. Incomplete wedge; impact of bullet, lateral or oblique, and two left-hand lines seen in A are suppressed. E. Oblique single line, one right and one left hand line seen in A, suppressed. The influence of leverage from weight of the body probably acts here. Compare plates XVI. and XXI.
(23) Spurious Perforation of Clavicle
Range unknown, probably either mean or long.
The bullet entered from the front, grooved the under surface of the acromial end of the clavicle with increasing depth, and eventually perforated the posterior margin of the bone, raising the compact tissue in an angular manner.