Range more than '1,000 yards.'
The distance was probably much greater, as the bullet was retained and undeformed, and the comminution of the bone was very slight. The wound of entry was just below the elbow.
The bullet has cut its way through the inner half of the humerus, producing little comminution and mere solution of continuity of the bone without displacement
Fractures of the pelvis.—These, as a rule, were of so slight a nature as to form a very insignificant part of the entire injury with which they were associated, or when uncomplicated they were of little more importance than simple wounds of the soft parts. The very great majority were of the simple perforating type. I had the opportunity of examining three at the brim of the pelvis, these all passing in a downward direction. The openings were of about the same calibre as the bullet, and at their entrance was a small amount of bone dust such as would be found at the entry hole of a gimlet. It was these that made me consider the possibility of the rifle grooves having some part in the ease with which certain perforations are made. Of a large number of cases in which bullets traversed the ilium, the openings in the bone, as a rule, were with difficulty palpated. I must say that I was astonished that I never met with an instance of an extensive stellate fracture in the case of the ilium. Such may have occurred in some of the cases fatal on the field or shortly afterwards, but I never came across one in the hospital. It says much for the combined density and toughness of the human pelvis.
Comminuted fractures were, however, occasionally met with when the bullet passed in a track parallel to the plane of the bone. One such of an unusual character has already been mentioned on p. 171. A still more interesting form, and one highly characteristic of flat bone injuries, is shown in fig. 55. The patient, a man wounded at Modder River, was struck at a range of 300 to 400 yards. The bullet entered over about the centre of the ilium and emerged in the anterior abdominal wall about 2 inches above the anterior-superior spine. As there was some doubt as to penetration of the abdomen, and as the exit wound was of considerable size, the wound was explored, an anæsthetic having been given. A clean-cut track in the bone was discovered which allowed the middle finger to be placed in it. There was little splintering of either inner or outer table of the bone beyond the width of the track, but plates of each table adhered on the one side to the origin of the gluteus medius, and on the other to the iliacus, the latter muscle being somewhat widely separated from the venter ilii by effused blood. There was no perforation of the abdominal cavity.
(28) Localised Comminuted Fracture of the Humerus
Range '100 yards.'
The entry and exit wounds were on the front and back aspects of the arm, about 3 inches above the elbow.