Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book and medical descriptive lists of the HAREWOOD HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C., Surgeon Thomas Antisell, U. S. V., in charge from October, 1862, to September, 1863:

CASE 273.—Private Jewell F. Colton, company L, 2d Maine cavalry; admitted January 2, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa of three months' standing. This man had the diarrhœal countenance, and a painful bloody discharge from the bowels almost every hour; his pulse was small and frequent. He was treated at first with dilute sulphuric acid and laudanum, and the discharges diminished in frequency to from seven to nine in the twenty-four hours, but continued painful. Subsequently pills of tannin, ipecacuanha and opium were resorted to, under the influence of which the discharges decreased in frequency to four or five daily, the pain ceased, the pulse became fuller and less frequent, and the appetite improved. The pills were then discontinued, and laudanum alone given; the stools diminished to two daily, and the patient's condition apparently improved very much, so that twenty-four hours before his death he was sitting up and writing. Died, February 6th, at 9.15 A. M. Autopsy: The abdominal cavity contained about twenty-four ounces of serum. The ileum presented several patches of congestion. The colon was thickened, softened, and ulcerated in many places; some of the ulcers seemed to be cicatrizing. The liver was congested. The spleen enlarged. The kidneys and bladder normal. The mesenteric glands enlarged.—Acting Assistant Surgeon H. Hirshfield.