en obtained, but it may be pointed out that
the Belgian Mauser rifle at a distance of five yards is capable of
driving a bullet 55 inches or nearly five feet into a log of pine-wood.
Many examples of long tracks will be referred to later, but the
following instances may be of interest in this relation. A bullet
entering at the occipital protuberance traversed the muscles of the
neck, passed through the thoracic cavity, fractured the bodies of the
third and fourth and grooved the seventh and eighth dorsal vertebrae,
grooved the seventh and eighth and fractured the ninth and tenth ribs,
traversed the muscles of the back and finally lodged against the ilium;
the whole length of this track measured some 25 inches. Again, at the
battle of Belmont a Mauser bullet entered the pelvis of a horse just
below the anus, and traversed the entire trunk before emerging from the
front of the chest: it may be of interest to mention that this animal
was alive and moving about the next day, but I am sorry I can give no
further information regarding his fate.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Superficial Track on external surface of Thigh.
Local discoloration of skin five weeks after reception of injury]

The possibility of contour tracks travelling around the walls of the
chest or abdomen has therefore rarely to be considered, except in
occasional instances where the bullet fired from a long range has
impinged against a bone and is retained in the body. The small volume of
the bullets, however, allows the production of very prolonged direct
subcutaneous tracks in the body wall, in positions where they would be
manifestly impossible with projectiles of larger calibre.

Figs. 24 and 25 illustrate wounds of this nature. In the case figured in
fig. 24 the bullet entered over the third rib in a vertical line above
the right nipple; it then coursed obliquely down, crossing the seventh
costal cartilage, and finally emerged 3 inches above the umbilicus.
Where the track crossed the prominence of the thoracic margin the skin
was so thinned as to undergo subsequent discoloration, while a distinct
groove was evident there on palpation. In some similar cases I have seen
the central part of the track secondarily laid open as a result of the
thinning of the skin and consequent sloughing due to the interference
with its vitality.

Short of sloughing, the skin may show signs of alteration of vitality
for a long period after the injury; thus fig. 25 depicts the