Civil War Washington

CASE 3.—Private William Robinson, Co. C, 5th Pa. Reserves, was admitted Feb. 19, 1863, with a dislocated ankle. He died suddenly, March 26. Post-mortem examination: Body well nourished. The brain and lungs were healthy. The pericardium was much distended by six ounces of reddish serum and a clot, nine ounces and a half in weight, completely surrounding the heart; the right auricle was thinned towards its appendix; the lining membrane of the left auricle was pale and roughly areolated; the cardiac valves were healthy. The aorta was congested and atheromatous, as were the great vessels arising from its arch. On the posterior surface of the aorta, about two inches from the semilunar valves, was an aneurismal tumor with a cavity as large as a black walnut, communicating by a minute valvular opening with the pericardium.—Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.