Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private Joshua C——, Co. H, 4th Ohio Volunteers, aged 23 years, received an injury of the spine, December 21st, 1863, from a tree falling across him, in camp. On January 27th, 1864, he was admitted to the 3d division hospital, Alexandria, Virginia, with entire paralysis of the lower extremities, both as to sensation and motion. He did not complain of any great amount of pain. His appetite was good. There was no movement of the bowels, except as the effect of a cathartic, and his urine had to be drawn regularly, otherwise it passed involuntarily from him upon the bladder becoming partly full. The muscles of the thigh and legs twitched involuntarily. Blisters were ordered to the spine in the neighborhood of the second dorsal vertebra, which was dislocated. February 10th: Counter irritation has been thoroughly tried, with no good result. Bed sores formed on each hip, although an astringent wash had been used and pressure prevented as far as possible, and it was feared that the vitality of the parts was so low as to prevent their healing. Patient sank gradually; his appetite became poor; bed sores worse, and the discharge from them very abundant and offensive. Death resulted on April 28th, 1864. At the autopsy, forty-eight hours after death, the viscera was found apparently healthy; there was pressure upon the cord at the point of dislocation of the vertebral column and effusion within the membranes. The pathological specimen is No. 2255, Section I, A. M. M., and shows the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth dorsal vertebræ, completely fractured through the eighth and displaced forward. The bones are partially retained in their abnormal relation by callus deposited in the neighborhood. The fracture passes transversely through the body and embraces the processes also. It was contributed, with a history of the case, by Surgeon Edwin Bentley, U. S. V.