Title: S——, Henry

Source text: Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, United States Army, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861–65.), Part 1, Volume 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1870), 174-175.

Keywords:on special wounds and injuries of the headwounds and injuries of the headgunshot woundsgunshot contusions of the cranial bonesgunshot fractures of both tables of the skullgunshot fractures of both tables of the cranium with depressiongunshot fracture of cranial bones accompanied by hemiplegia or paraplegiaconoidal musket ball fractured and depressed skull between frontal eminencesprofuse diarrhœamental faculties obscured, paralysis of motion, hyperæsthesia of whole surface, convulsionsfracture of inner table with depression, fissure extended into frontal sinusdepressed fractures of frontal bonesconvulsions of epileptic charactermeninges presented evidence of high degree of inflammationsurfaces of right hemisphere bathed with puspus filled longitudinal fissure and near ethmoid platesautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e12295

TEI/XML: med.d1e12295.xml


CASE.—Private Henry S——, Co. E, 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, aged 38, was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, May 9th, 1864, by a conoidal musket ball which fractured and depressed the skull between the frontal eminences. He was sent to the hospital of the 1st division, Fifth Corps, and on May 15th transferred to Washington, D. C., and admitted into the Mount Pleasant Hospital. So far, simple dressings only had been applied. On May 27th he was transferred to the Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia. The day following his admission, he was attacked with a profuse diarrhœa, and complained of pain in the head; was dull and drowsy, and at times delirious. On June 1st his mental faculties were completely obscured, and paralysis of motion on the left side was observed, though there was hyperæsthesia of the whole surface. Convulsions of an epileptic character occurred on the 2d, and it was observed that the muscular power of the left side was now restored, and that the right was paralyzed. The pupils, which had hitherto been dilated, were now somewhat contracted; the tongue was dry; the lungs full of coarse râles. Repeated convulsions recurred on the 4th, exhibiting the same remarkable features heretofore mentioned in respect to the side paralyzed. No control over the sphincters remained. Death occurred in the afternoon of June 4th, 1864. At the autopsy the fractured portion of bone was found to be ovoid in shape and corresponding in dimension to the external wound. There was a fracture of the inner table with depression of a portion near the longitudinal sinus to the depth of two lines, and a fissure extended into the frontal sinus. Beneath was a black slough of the dura mater, measuring two inches in length by one in width. The anterior and lateral surfaces of the right hemisphere were bathed with pus, which also filled the great longitudinal fissure and the parts in the region of the ethmoid plates. At the base of the brain was an effusion of serum. The meninges on this side presented evidence of a high degree of inflammation, and could be easily separated in large patches from the convolutions, which were slightly softened, one containing a large abscess. The membranes of the other side were little more than congested. Further than this the brain was healthy. The pathological specimen, an extraordinarily thin calvaria​, is No. 2758, Sect. I, A. M. M., and was contributed, with the history, by Acting Assistant Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr.​