VII. On the effects produced on the circulation and respiration by gun-shot injuries of the cerebral hemispheres

There exists, so far as we know, no research in which the effects upon the circulation and respiration produced by a bullet passing through the cerebral hemispheres have been investigated. We have for this reason conducted a number of experiments in which etherised animals—dogs—have been shot with bullets of various calibre, the blood-pressure (central and peripheral), respiratory, and other curves being written before and after the shot. The results we obtained almost immediately were so clear and decisive, as well as contrary to generally received opinions on this subject, that the questions involved appeared to us worthy of prolonged investigation, of which the following is an account. It has long been recognised that the fatal influence of the projectile may be exerted immediately or tardily : in fact, that we may speak of a primary source, and a secondary source, of death respectively. We may anticipate what follows by saying that we have found, as the result of an extensive series of experiments, that the primary cause of death is not as previously supposed, arrest of the heart by so-called shock, but that it consists in a sudden cessation of the movements of respiration, which, however, can be artificially restored. It will be seen that the conclusions derived from these observations have an unforeseen bearing on the proper method of clinically dealing with this condition.