Civil War Washington

CASE 65.—Private George E. Blackmer, Co. C, 3d Mass.; age 20; taken sick Feb. 16, 1862, with diarrhœa, and admitted March 2. Diagnosis: Typhoid fever. 4th: Drowsy; cheeks flushed; pulse full, weak and rapid; skin hot and dry; some deafness; tongue coated; much thirst; two watery stools daily; much cough with mucous expectoration. Gave stimulants, iron and turpentine emulsion. 6th: Tongue moist; no abdominal tenderness; cough lessened; appetite returning; bowels regular. He continued thus until the 10th, when the record shows some delirium at night, epistaxis and dry tongue. In answering questions he confused his dreams with realities, and for some days afterward had curious hallucinations. His appetite continued good and his bowels regular, but the pulse remained quick and weak. On the 16th his cheeks became much flushed; he had severe pain in the right breast and was unable to breathe deeply, to cough or to lie down. 17th: Replies rationally, but at once relapses into delirium; pulse rapid, soft; skin natural; tongue moist, slightly coated; appetite poor; bowels regular; some deafness; much epigastric tenderness and severe pain in chest. Applied fly-blister over summit of right lung. He gradually failed, and died on the 25th. Post-mortem examination: Extensive pleuritic adhesions on left side; slight adhesions on right side, with thin layers of coagulable lymph and thirty ounces of effusion; hepatization and purulent infiltration of right lung and a portion of the lower lobe, two inches square, choked with coagulated blood; bronchial tubes of both lungs filled with frothy mucus.—Seminary Hospital, Georgetown, D. C.