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 280.—Private William H. Hawkhurst, company G, 17th Connecticut volunteers; age 30; admitted April 21, 1863, with diarrhœa of some duration. [According to the register of the hospital of the 11th Corps this man was admitted to that hospital, then at Brooks' Station, Virginia, April 14th, and sent to Washington April 20th; no diagnosis.] Stools frequent; pulse 100, small, and quite compressible; urine normal. Obstinate vomiting was a prominent symptom. Treatment: A blister to the epigastrium, bismuth and opium, &c. The vomiting, however, continued, and the patient died April 26th. Autopsy: Body not much emaciated. There were old pleuritic adhesions on the right side; lungs healthy. Heart slightly enlarged; mitral valve thickened, its free edges covered with vegetations; the tricuspid valve and the aortic semilunar valves somewhat thickened; foramen ovale open, the opening a quarter of an inch in diameter. The stomach contained half a pint of green grumous fluid; its mucous coat was much thickened, softened, and inflamed, the rugæ very prominent. The mucous membrane of the lower half of the ileum, and of the colon, except the transverse arch, was in a similar condition. Liver somewhat enlarged, its structure healthy; gall-bladder distended. Spleen normal. Kidneys enlarged, their cortical portion pale, their pyramids congested.—Acting Assistant Surgeon N. C. Stevens.