support afforded by the underlying structures,
which are often in a condition of hollow tension. The scrotal wounds are
perhaps more difficult to account for, but in this case the fact of the
distal aperture being directly supported by the right thigh is a ready
explanation of the circular exit, while the skin corresponding to the
slit entry was no doubt carried before the bullet, and finally gave way
in the line of a normal crease.

[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Entry and Exit Wounds in both thighs and
scrotum. From right to left: 1. Circular entry in left buttock behind
trochanter. 2. Vertical slit exit in adductor region. 3. Slit entry in
scrotum (probably inverted before bullet broke the surface, and then a
slit occurred in a normal crease). 4. Circular exit in scrotum (here
supported by surface of right thigh). 5. Transverse slit entry in right
adductor region. 6. Irregular 'explosive' exit, the bullet having set up
on contact with the front surface of the femur, but without having
caused solution of continuity of the bone.]

In fig. 23 all the wounds are circular except the final exit, which was
irregular as a result of the bullet in this case also having struck the
femur in the second thigh. Considerable variation also exists in the
size of the circular apertures; this illustrates the secondary
enlargement often occurring in such wounds, and most marked at the
apertures of entry, as the more contused. Both diagrams were made from
patients eight days after the reception of the wounds.

[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Wound of both Thighs. First and second entry
typical circular wounds. First exit a small circular wound; the bullet
'set up' on contact with the femur without causing solution of
continuity of the bone, and second exit is irregular and large.

This diagram is of considerable interest when compared with fig. 22. I
believe the comparative regularity in the wounds to have been due to a
higher degree of velocity of flight on the part of the bullet]

Lastly, vertical or transverse slits may be looked for with considerable
confidence in situations in which transverse oblique or vertical folds
or creases normally exist in the skin, and depend on the lines of
tension maintained by the connection of the skin in these situations to
the underlying fascia. Thus I saw well-marked transverse and vertical
slits in the forehead corresponding with the creases normally found
there, and in this situation I noted some slit entr