Civil War Washington

CASE 1.—Private John E. Wood, Co. I, 10th N. Y. Heavy Art'y; age 21; was admitted Dec. 24, 1864, with marked œdema of the legs and some puffiness of the face, especially about the eyes, which had appeared four weeks before his admission, after exposure to cold by lying on the damp ground. The swelling began on the day following the exposure and gradually increased. He had a cough and a syphilitic eruption on the skin; his urine was albuminous. He was treated with diuretics, diaphoretics, iron and other tonics. On Feb. 4, 1865, Rochelle salt, in a daily dose of one ounce, was prescribed. On the 11th he was much worse, being somewhat comatose, the pulse frequent and feeble, the urine scanty and dark-colored, showing under the microscope red-blood corpuscles and many cysts filled with oil-globules. Tincture of digitalis in ten-drop doses was given every three hours. On the 13th the pulse was stronger and the mind clear, but the anasarca had become general and there was considerable ascites. Bromine was ordered on the 18th for a bed-sore which had appeared. The stools became involuntary on the 22d and the breathing difficult on the 26th. He died March 1. Post-mortem examination: All the tissues were infiltrated with serum; the abdominal cavity contained sixteen pints. The right kidney weighed ten ounces, the left eleven ounces. [Specimen 530, Med. Sec., Army Medical Museum. When received at the museum the kidneys were of a tawny-yellow color, mottled on the surface; the epithelium of the tubuli contained large numbers of oil-drops, and the connective tissue of the matrix many new elements.]—Act. Ass't Surgeon D. L. Haight, Douglas Hospital, Washington, D. C.