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 281.—Private Max Uppenheimer, company E, 41st New York volunteers; age 22; admitted April 21, 1863, from the 11th Army Corps. Chronic diarrhœa of four months standing, with anasarca for the last two months. He was emaciated and pallid; pulse 120 and feeble; had twelve serous, highly offensive stools daily, which were sometimes involuntary. Treatment: Solution of pernitrate of iron, opium, and port wine. Died, April 30th. Autopsy: Body emaciated; extremities œdematous. The heart was smaller than usual, but apparently normal. A small encysted calcareous deposit was found in one of the lungs. The abdominal cavity contained eight pints of serum, with floating shreds of organized lymph; numerous small cysts resembling hydatids were attached to the mesentery. The stomach was small, pale, and empty; its mucous coat appeared to be slightly thickened. The intestines were distended with gas. Appearances of recent inflammation were observed in the lower part of the ileum, particularly within six inches of the ileocæcal valve, but no ulceration of Peyer's glands. There were numerous minute ulcers in the colon, some of them penetrating to the peritoneal coat; these were most numerous in the descending colon. The liver was healthy; the gall-bladder distended with bile. The spleen was congested and softened, but normal in size. The mesenteric glands were enlarged and somewhat indurated. The kidneys normal; the bladder distended with urine.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas H. Elliott.