Mosher, John M. a machine readable transcription Susan C. Lawrence Kenneth M. Price Kenneth J. Winkle 2011 med.d1e20312 Civil War Washington University of Nebraska–Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
319 Love LibraryUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnLincoln, NE 68588-4100cdrh@unlnotes.unl.edu
 2011

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 The following are responsible for particular readings or for changes to this file, as noted: Kenneth Winkle AJ Howell Matthew Bosley Elizabeth Lorang Stacey Berry Elisabeth Tracey The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861–65.)Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, United States ArmyWashington, D.C.Government Printing OfficePart 1 Volume 21870587 Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion wounds and injuries of the chest operations on the chest excisions balls and foreign bodies lodged remarkable lodgement of foreign bodies on post-mortem pericarditis and pleurisy rifle ball struck near costal cartilage of fifth rib, passed over xiphoid, perforated diaphragm, entered liver brass button and clothing found in wound necropsy performed blessed added figure encoding additional proofing of transcription and encoding case text extracted and transformed from larger file enriched encoding validated file encoded initial checking of OCR text against PDF; encoded

CASE 16.—Private John M. Mosher, Co. I, 1st Maine Cavalry, was wounded at Brandy Station, Virginia, October 12th, 1863, by an elongated rifle ball, which struck near the costal cartilage of the fifth rib, coursed inward and to the right, and, passing over the xiphoid appendage, perforated the diaphragm, entered the liver immediately to the right of the suspensory ligament, passed outward and slightly upward and emerged on the posterior surface of the greater lobe to rest beneath the diaphragm. He was taken to the field hospital, where he remained for several days, when he was sent to Washington and admitted to Lincoln Hospital on the 19th. Death resulted on October 20th, 1863, from pericarditis and pleurisy. The necropsy revealed the course of the ball. The right lung was not visible, its site being occupied by a puffy mass of emphysematous cellular tissue in a state of inflammation; toward the median line this infiltration was covered by a thick layer of exudation of a dark purplish red color. The pericardium was covered externally with a layer of lymph of a recent formation. There was about one-half pint of dark and serous fluid in each pleural cavity. On section of the first and second lobes they were found congested, especially at the apex of the first. Bronchial irritation was shown by the excess of the frothy secretion in this part. Immediately to the right of the suspensory ligament a ragged roundish opening was seen; five and a half inches to the right, and, on a line with this, another opening was observed of the same general appearance as the first. At this point, the liver was firmly adherent to the diaphragm by inflammatory products, as, indeed, was the greater part of the right lobe, but the latter were much older adhesions than those around the wound. At this opening, a brass button was found with a portion of clothing attached. The missile, disfigured a very little, with an ordinary military coat button inverted, together with the cloth to which it was sewn, is represented by the wood-cut (FIG. 286). It was contributed, with notes of the case, by Assistant Surgeon H. Allen, U. S. A., from Lincoln Hospital.

FIG. 286—Elongated rifle ball, somewhat disfigured, with an ordinary military button inverted, and the cloth to which it was sewn. Spec. 4151, Sect. I, A. M. M.