Civil War Washington

CASE 6.—Private William H. Simons, Co. H, 88th Pa.; age 17; was admitted July 20, 1864, with an inguinal hernia on the right side. He was on duty as a nurse until Jan, 14, 1865, when he had a slight chill with pain in the head and loins, lassitude, anorexia, a moist, yellow, furred tongue, dry and hot skin and slightly quickened pulse; his bowels were regular and there was no abdominal tenderness. On the 19th nausea and restlessness were developed, and the abdomen became tympanitic and tender on the right side. Vomiting followed next day, and delirium and death on the 22d. Post-mortem examination: The right ventricle of the heart was dilated, the left contracted. There was some stasis of blood in the upper lobes of the lungs, lobular pneumonia in the lower lobes and recent adhesions on the right side. The abdominal viscera were interadherent by yellow lymph. The liver was yellow and granular; the spleen soft; the ileum distended with air, injected of a rosy hue and presenting, at about eight inches from the ileocæcal valve, a loop with adherent sides and slightly darkened surface. The internal abdominal ring was open and the hernial sac empty and uninflamed.—Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.