CASE 1.—Private John E. Wood, Co. I, 10th N. Y.
Heavy Art'y; age 21; was admitted Dec. 24, 1864, with
marked œdema of the legs and some puffiness of the face,
especially about the eyes, which had appeared four weeks
before his admission, after exposure to cold by lying on
the damp ground. The swelling began on the day following the
exposure and gradually increased. He had a cough and a
syphilitic eruption on the skin; his urine was albuminous.
He was treated with diuretics, diaphoretics, iron and other
tonics. On Feb. 4, 1865, Rochelle salt, in a daily dose of
one ounce, was prescribed. On the 11th he was much worse,
being somewhat comatose, the pulse frequent and feeble,
the urine scanty and dark-colored, showing under the
microscope red-blood corpuscles and many cysts filled with
oil-globules. Tincture of digitalis in ten-drop doses was
given every three hours. On the 13th the pulse was stronger
and the mind clear, but the anasarca had become general and
there was considerable ascites. Bromine was ordered on the
18th for a bed-sore which had appeared. The stools became
involuntary on the 22d and the breathing difficult on the
26th. He died March 1. Post-mortem examination: All the
tissues were infiltrated with serum; the abdominal cavity
contained sixteen pints. The right kidney weighed ten
ounces, the left eleven ounces. [Specimen 530,
Med. Sec., Army Medical Museum. When received at the museum
the kidneys were of a tawny-yellow color, mottled on the
surface; the epithelium of the tubuli contained large
numbers of oil-drops, and the connective tissue of the
matrix many new elements.]—Act. Ass't Surgeon D.
L. Haight, Douglas Hospital, Washington, D. C.