Title: R——, John

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), 247.

Keywords:on special wounds and injuries of the headwounds and injuries of the headgunshot woundsgunshot fractures of the cranial bonesremoval of fragments after gunshot fractures of the skullfatal cases of gunshot fractures of the skull treated by the removal or elevation fragmentstreated by operation, not by formal trephiningextent of injury ascertained with precision, organic alterations accurately observedconoidal ball entered left frontal bone above frontal protuberance, lodged in brainwounded five or six days previous to admissioncoma, pupils dilated, right side paralyzedextravasation of blood within craniumanterior left cerebrum injuredexudation between dura mater and arachnoidautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e16276

TEI/XML: med.d1e16276.xml


CASE.—A soldier, supposed to be John R——, Co. D, 9th Massachusetts Volunteers, aged 22 years, was admitted into the Stanton Hospital, Washington, on May 18th, 1864, having been wounded five or six days previously by a conoidal ball, which entered the left side of the frontal bone, three-quarters of an inch above the frontal protuberance, and lodged in the brain. He was in a comatose condition; his respirations were sighing, pulse 110 and feeble, pupils dilated, and his right side was paralyzed. Assistant Surgeon George A. Mursick, U. S. V., enlarged the wound of soft parts by crucial​ incision, and removed four splinters of bone with an elevator, one of them being depressed about half an inch. An ice bag was applied to the head and a stimulating enema ordered, but the patient sank rapidly and died May 19th, 1864, ten hours after the operation, from extravasation of blood. The autopsy showed the anterior lobe of the left cerebrum to be injured. There was a copious exudation of plastic matter between the dura mater and the arachnoid. The specimen is No. 2631, Sect. I, A. M. M., and was contributed, with the history, by Assistant Surgeon George A. Mursick, U. S. V.