CASE.—Private
Erastus R. Rugg, Co. I, 7th
Wisconsin Volunteers, aged 43 years, was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, May 5th, 1864, by a conoidal ball,
which penetrated the left temporal bone and passed through the dura mater. He
was, on the following day, admitted to the 4th division, Fifth Corps, hospital,
and on the 12th, transferred to
the Douglas Hospital, Washington. Simple
dressings were employed. On May
28th, he was sent to the Broad and Cherry Streets Hospital,
Philadelphia, where a small piece of necrosed bone was extracted from the wound.
The missile had been previously removed. The patient remained at the above
hospital until the 27th of June, when he was transferred to the Haddington
Hospital. He recovered, and was returned to duty on February 11th, 1865. He was discharged July 6th, 1865, and
pensioned. A communication from the Commissioner of Pensions, January 20th,
1870, states that there is a deep depression at the seat of injury. The
functions of the right ear are lost, those of the left are tremulous and weak,
and the man is subject to dizziness upon slight exertion.