Civil War Washington

CASE 2.—Private Oliver Conkling, Co. H, 1st N. J. Admitted Feb. 15, 1863. Diagnosis: small-pox. Died on the 17th. Post-mortem examination five hours after death: No rigor mortis; age about 25; body completely covered with pits. About half an ounce of pus was found under the arachnoid on the left side, and this membrane appeared thick, white and opaque over the pons Varolii. The bronchial tubes and parenchyma of the posterior parts of the lungs were congested. The heart was firm and contained white fibrinous clots in all its cavities. The liver weighed ninety-four and a half ounces and was firm and mottled; the gall-bladder contained scarcely a drachm of dark bile; the spleen was flabby and light-colored. The stomach was slightly contracted; the duodenum congested and its mucous membrane thinned; the jejunum healthy; the valves of the ileum were thin and in some places nearly destroyed, its solitary follicles slightly enlarged and its agminated glands somewhat congested in the upper third; the large intestine was dilated. The kidneys weighed each eight and a half ounces and were dark and firm; the left contained a small cyst.—Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.