Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private David B——, Co. E, 100th Pennsylvania Volunteers, aged 33 years, was wounded at Petersburg, Virginia, June 17th, 1864, by a conoidal ball, which fractured the left parietal bone at the central portion and superior border of the temporal ridge. He was admitted on the same day to the field hospital of the Ninth Corps, and thence conveyed to Washington, and admitted to the Harewood Hospital on the 2d of July. On the 17th, he was sent to the Mower Hospital, Philadelphia. On admittance, the wound appeared to be only one of the scalp. Cold water dressings were applied; calomel, tonics, anodynes, and light diet ordered, and the patient placed in a recumbent position, with the head elevated. On July 20th, he evinced a want of comprehension when addressed, and hesitated in replying. From that date there was a growing tendency to coma, and on the 29th he was completely unconscious. His pupils were dilated, respiration was labored, and pulse slow and soft. On the 30th, ether was administered, and Acting Assistant Surgeon D. H. Agnew applied the trephine and removed a section of the outer and four small fragments of the inner table, involving one-third of a square inch of surface. A small abscess was found forming outside of the membranes. Immediately, after the operation, consciousness and intelligence returned. By the 1st of August the wound had commenced to granulate; the patient was cheerful and his appetite improving. In two weeks he was able to go about the ward, though suffering from pain in the head upon exposure to the sun. He was discharged from service on September 22d, 1864. The pathological specimen is No. 3626, Sect. I, A. M. M., and consists of four small fragments of the parietal bone, chiefly from the inner table. The specimen and history were contributed by Surgeon J. Hopkinson, U. S. V.