Civil War Washington

CASE.—Lieutenant W. V——, Co. L, 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, aged 30 years, was wounded at the battle of Spottsylvania Court-house, Virginia, May 17th, 1864, by a conoidal ball, which fractured and depressed both tables of the left parietal bone. He was admitted into the Emory Hospital, Washington, on the 22d, in a comatose condition, with paralysis of the right side. The scalp was lacerated and sloughing, the pericranium torn, and spiculæ of bone had been driven in upon the dura mater. The membranes of the brain were entire. Surgeon N. R. Moseley, U. S. V., applied the trephine, removed two fragments of bone and elevated the depressed portions. Beef tea and liquid stimulants were administered. Inflammation of the meninges supervened, and the patient died on the 24th of May, 1864. The post-mortem examination revealed a fracture, extending from the opening made by the trephine toward the left parietal bone. The substance of the brain was softened and congested with dark, livid blood. The pathological specimen, No. 2317, Sect. I, A. M. M., shows a disk and five small fragments of bone removed from the left parietal. The disk is split transversely. The specimen and history were contributed by Surgeon N. R. Moseley, U. S. V.