1850.
Report of the Ophthalmic Hospital.
265
large amounts of specie to the city, and are well arined to defend themselves against pirates. This boat had swivels of foreign manufac- ture, loaded and manned, and the matches were 'ighted. But sailing before the wind in a moonlight evening, the men were asleep at their guns, when a pirate came up astern of her unobserved, and fired a shot, aimed, apparently, at the helinsman, which passed through the body of a man near him. The boatmen were instantly at their guns. The helmsman brought the boat into the wind, when a broadside was fired into the piratical boat, sending a number of the men into the water. The engagement was brief and spirited, but successful on the part of the assailed, who reported that but five oarsmen were seen in the bright moonlight, working at the pirate boat when they parted. Five men belonging to the passenger boat were brought to the hospital the next morning, probably at the instance of the government, as a linguist came to seek admittance for them, each having received an iron slug or shot. They were entered upon the records as follows :
No. 23,506. Lí Atsí, æt. 23. Ball entered the groin.
left breast.
""
28,507. Lí Ayu, æt. 31.
"
23,508. Cháu Awú, æt. 25. 23,509. Lí Asz, æt. 15.
at the ankle.
""
"
>>
""
right arm.
28,510. Hwáng Akwáng, æt. 53.
"
mastoid process.
In the case of the first, the ball entered just over the arch of the pubes, a little to the left side, and passing in a horizontal direction, for- tunately without injury to the femoral artery which ran very near its course, lodged beneath the vastus externus of the right thigh, where it was found, cut down upon, and extracted on the 17th inst. In that of Lí Ayú, the ball entered over the third rib, glanced and passed down- wards beneath the pectoral muscle, two inches below the point of entrance, where it was found and dislodged on the 18th inst. Cháu Awú received the shot below the internal maleolus of the right fool, which was extracted at the centre of the heel on the 10th. In the case of Lí Asz', the shot passed through the right arm, external to the humerus, a little below the deltoid muscle, and was extracted on the opposite side, also on the 10th. Hwang Akwáng received the iron a little below the right mastoid process, which passed along the base of the cranium, lodged near the cervical vertebræ at a depth of three and a half inches, and was extracted on the 15th, after dilating the wound with a bistoury and directory to the bottom. The five men recovered in due course without any permanent injury, three of whom, subsequent to their discharge, have returned with grateful acknow- ledgment of their good fortune.
VOL. XIX. NO, V.
31
Page 300Page 301
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