Gunshot wound of the thigh
Object numberGC.13846
TitleGunshot wound of the thigh
CreatorCharles Bell (originator)
DescriptionGunshot wound of the thigh. Sketch in oil, glazed in wooden frame.
One of Charles Bell's paintings of a casualty from the Battle of Corunna and the retreat between 24 December 1808-11 January 1809. Bell treated some of the force that landed back in Britain at Portsmouth. There are fifteen images in all.
Bell's notes: "Sketch of a gunshot wound of the thigh. It represents the wound in the state of irritation and sloughing, not that sloughing which is a necessary consequence of a gunshot wound, but proceeding from disorder of the system. Twice the arterial blood burst out with a violence that indicated that the main artery opened, and twice the tourniquet was applied with the intention of amputating. "
Bell talks of this case in the second volume of Operative Surgery, p.411. The patient is Rifleman J. Chambers of the 95th regiment, who was shot at the retreat at Villa Franca. "The ball entered under the edge of the sartorius muscle, passed obliquely through the flesh of the thigh and round the bone and lay under the skin near the trochanter major. The wound bled freely on his first receiving the shot. He was thrown on a mule and for three leagues on the retreat he continued to bleed. The surgeon cut out the ball and bound up the limb and then the bleeding stopt [sic]; but it broke out again and continued to bleed for ten days; and after this, when aboard the transport, there was great bleeding [secondary haemorrhage] so that we were obliged to apply the tourniquet &c. The wound continued to bleed till within two days of his coming ashore." The damage is likely to be to either the femoral artery or the femoris profunda, though Bell thougt it more likely that latter. The sloughing that he mentions in his description would indicate infection that would further erode the artery's wall, leading to further bleeding. Amputation had not been carried out on two occasions; at that time amputation through the thigh had a mortality rate of 60-80%. However, given the heavy blood loss the man had suffered, Bell suggests that amputation would have been too much "This artery, however, was at last stopped by the compress and roller ; but had it been cut with a knife, the bleeding would most probably have been fatal in the first instance, if the artery had been left unsecured." It does not seem to be recorded whether the wound then led to potentially fatal sepsis.
Production date c.post 1810-01-01
Object nameGunshot wound to the thigh
Object categoryAnatomical, artwork
MaterialCanvas
Dimensions
- Framed Height: 85 cm
Width: 98 cm
Canvas Height: 61.6 cm
Width: 74.2 cm