The left lung
and cavity were perfectly normal. The right lung was engorged and
somewhat compressed by the blood in the pleural cavity. The
pericardium was much distended and contained from six to eight
ounces of partially coagulated blood. There was a fibrinous clot
in the left ventricle.
Nonfatal Cardiac Injuries.--Wounds of the heart are not
necessarily fatal. Of 401 cases of cardiac injury collected by
Fischer there were as many as 50 recoveries, the diagnosis being
confirmed in 33 instances by an autopsy in which there were found
distinct signs of the cardiac injury. By a peculiar arrangement
of the fibers of the heart, a wound transverse to one layer of
fibers is in the direction of another layer, and to a certain
extent, therefore, valvular in function; it is probably from this
fact that punctured wounds of the heart are often attended with
little or no bleeding.
Among the older writers, several instances of nonfatal injuries
to the heart are recorded. Before the present century scientists
had observed game-animals that had been wounded in the heart in
the course of their lives, and after their ultimate death such
direct evidence as the presence of a bullet or an arrow in their
hearts was found.
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