Mr. McCloy. And there must have been a considerable diminution in the velocity of the bullet after penetrating through the wrist?
Dr. Shaw. Yes.
Mr. Dulles. The wound inflicted on it, the chest wound on Governor Connally, if you move that an inch or two, 1 inch or the other, could that have been lethal, go through an area that could easily have been lethal?
Dr. Shaw. Yes; of course, if it had been moved more medially it could have struck the heart and the great vessels.
Mr. McCloy. Let me ask you this, Doctor, in your experience with gunshot wounds, is it possible for a man to be hit sometime before he realizes it?
Dr. Shaw. Yes. There can be a delay in the sensory reaction.
Mr. McCloy. Yes; so that a man can think as of a given instant he was not hit, and when actually he could have been hit.
Dr. Shaw. There can be an extending sensation and then just a gradual building up of a feeling of severe injury.
Mr. McCloy. But there could be a delay in any appreciable reaction between the time of the impact of the bullet and the occurrence?
Dr. Shaw. Yes; but in the case of a wound which strikes a bony substance such as a rib, usually the reaction is quite prompt.