Title: Vaughan, 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), 573.
Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e20123
TEI/XML: med.d1e20123.xml
CASE 1.—Private John Vaughan, Co. B, 3d battalion, 12th United States Infantry, aged 22 years, was admitted to the Post Hospital, Washington, May 30th, 1866, suffering from chronic pleurisy of the left side, with extensive effusion. By June 28th, the effusion extended over an inch above the left nipple. Good nourishing food, mercurial inunction, and mild diuretics had produced no diminution of the abdominal fluid. The patient's appetite was good; he slept soundly, and was able to walk about, and felt but little inconvenience. Assistant Surgeon William Thomson, U. S. A., performed paracentesis thoracis with a silver trocar above the ninth rib, near the inferior angle of the scapula, through valvular opening. Twenty-one ounces of albuminous serum were removed, after which the wound was hermetically closed. The operation was repeated July 16th, August 7th, and September 22d, giving but transitory relief, he was returned to duty October 16th, 1866. Not a pensioner.
