The wound was only a superficial laceration; whatever sharp instrument had inflicted it, had turned on the costal bone without penetrating lung tissue.
"The Planet Savers"
Marion Zimmer Bradley
To keep the sculptured side from being chafed and broken, I had it covered with costal or hemp bagging, and stuffed with dry grass to the thickness of six inches.
"Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I."
John L. Stephens
I supposed that it came from one of the lumbar or inter-costal arteries that had been injured by the supposed fracture of the process of the vertebra.
"Report on Surgery to the Santa Clara County Medical Society"
Joseph Bradford Cox