Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book and medical descriptive lists of the DOUGLAS HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C., Assistant Surgeon William Thomson, U. S. A., in charge from February, 1863, to September, 1864, and after September, 1865; Assistant Surgeon William F. Norris in charge from October, 1864, to September, 1865:

CASE 319.—Private Robert Haller, company B, 7th New York volunteers; admitted from the army of the Potomac , September 9, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the register of the hospital of the 1st Division, 2d Army Corps, near Petersburg, Virginia, as admitted August 30th—fever—thence he was transferred to the depot hospital of the same division at City Point, Virginia, to which he was admitted September 6th—remittent fever—sent to general hospital September 8th.] Died suddenly, at a drinking saloon near the hospital, January 20, 1865. Autopsy sixteen hours after death: Rigor mortis well-marked; feet and legs slightly œdematous; several ecchymosed spots on the legs; slight ecchymosis and a cut on the bridge of the nose, caused apparently by a fall shortly before death; a similar bruise, but no cut, on the forehead. The brain and its membranes appeared to be healthy; the ventricles were full of colorless serum, and there was a moderate quantity of similar fluid in the subarachnoid space. Both lungs were firmly adherent to the thoracic parietes, but otherwise healthy, except that in the lower lobe of the right lung there was a pneumonic patch about three inches in extent, and a small abscess, with ragged walls, about half an inch in diameter. The larynx and bronchial tubes were healthy. The bronchial glands were enlarged, and black both externally and on section. The œsophagus was normal. Several firm fibrinous bands connected the walls of the heart with the pericardial sac; there was quite an amount of fat on the external surface of the heart; the left ventricle contained a small clot, the other cavities were empty; the mitral valve was slightly thickened, the other valves were healthy; the muscular tissue of the heart was firm; the aorta was healthy. The liver was dark-red, firm, its acini distinct; the gall-bladder contained about an ounce of thin orange-yellow bile. The spleen was healthy. The stomach was full of half-digested meat and vegetables; it appeared to be healthy. The small intestine was healthy. All the coats of the large intestine were thickened. The mucous membrane was softened, and presented a few well-marked ulcerations. The kidneys were slightly fatty; the bladder contracted and empty.