Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book of LINCOLN HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C.; Surgeon Henry Bryant, U. S. V., in charge to May, 1863.

CASE 336.—Private Alpheus D. Northrup, company G, 37th Massachusetts volunteers; admitted January 2, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa. Died, January 28th. Autopsy ten hours after death: Height five feet ten inches; body greatly emaciated; the blood was fluid. The brain weighed forty-three ounces; it was of a light color and firm consistence; there were firm pleuritic adhesions on both sides. Both lungs were quite full of blood; the right lung weighed seventeen ounces and a half; there was a slight deposit of tubercles in its upper lobe; the surrounding lung-tissue was tough and partially solidified; the inferior lobe was intensely congested and partly hepatized; portions sank in water. The left lung weighed thirteen ounces and a half the posterior part of its lower lobe was in a state of atelectasis, and several of the lobules were consolidated. The heart weighed five ounces and a half; its substance was very flabby and of a deep-red color; the left auricle contained a small fibrinous clot; the other cavities were empty; the pericardium contained half an ounce of clear serum. The liver weighed thirty-five ounces and a half; it was full of blood, rather soft, and faintly mottled; the gall-bladder was small and filled with dark viscid bile. The spleen weighed three ounces and three-quarters; it was decidedly tough. The pancreas weighed two ounces. The right kidney was pale, and weighed three ounces and a quarter; the left kidney weighed four ounces and a quarter; the base of its pyramids was congested. The mucous membrane of the stomach was thin. There were several patches of congestion, almost resembling ecchymosis, in the lower portion of the jejunum; its mucous membrane was thin; in the upper part of the ileum the mucous membrane was thin and easily scraped off. On the mucous membrane of the upper part of the large intestine there were patches of a whitish exudation, which, farther down, covered the whole surface; still lower down there were numerous irregular, nearly circular, ulcers, surrounded by zones of white granular matter; the rectum was dark-colored, and presented numerous black spots in which were other ulcers; the adjacent surface was frosted with granules of white fibrinous matter.—Assistant Surgeon George M. McGill, U. S. A.