CASE 12.—Captain Prosper Dalien, Co. C, 208th Pennsylvania Volunteers, aged 26
years, was wounded at Petersburg, March 25th, 1865, by a conoidal ball, which entered beneath
the inferior angle of the left scapula, passed
through the pleura, and emerged at the anterior
superior border of the left axillary space. He was
treated in the field hospital of the Ninth Corps, until April 24th, when he was transferred to
Armory Square Hospital, Washington. When admitted,
there was considerable dyspnœa, with excessive
pain, which was increased by coughing. At each
forcible expiration the air was expelled from the
wound of the back. Stimulants and anodynes were
given. Whenever the patient moved he complained of
a gurgling sensation. On percussion in the
recumbent and upright position, it was decided
that there was a large quantity of pus in the
thoracic cavity. The cavity was opened by
Assistant Surgeon Charles A. Leale, U. S. V., and
twelve ounces of pure pus withdrawn, by means of a
Flint's evacuator. Air was forced from the
thoracic cavity through the wound in the arm.
Morphine given to allay pain. On June 2d,
hæmorrhage occurred from the cavity near the
axillary space, and the patient died on the same
day.