Title: Claus, John C.

Source text: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861-65.), Part 2, Volume 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1879), 163.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.chronic diarrhœa of four months durationgunshot wound of footileum deeply congestednumerous ulcers in large intestine, largest and most abundant in sigmoid flexure and rectummany ulcers in colon penetrated to muscular coatliver acini indistinctpleuritic adhesions, lobes of lungs interadherent, posteriorly all lobes intensely congestedbronchial glands contained black pigmentpancreas dark slate-colorautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41023

TEI/XML: med.d1e41023.xml


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


CASE 350.—Private John C. Claus, company B, 43d New York volunteers; admitted February 24, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa of four months duration; he had also a gunshot wound of the left foot, received at Fredericksburg. He was exceedingly emaciated, and had from two to four loose stools daily. Died, February 28th.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Daniel Weisel. Autopsy thirty-eight hours after death: Height five feet six inches; no rigor mortis; body very much emaciated. The brain weighed forty-eight ounces and a half; it was firm, injected with blood, the ventricles full of serum; there were old pleuritic adhesions on both sides. The lobes of the lungs were interadherent; the right lung weighed eighteen ounces, the left sixteen; posteriorly all the lobes of both lungs were intensely congested. The bronchial glands contained a great deal of black pigment. The heart weighed five ounces and a half; it was soft and flabby; there was no adipose tissue about it. The pericardium contained no fluid. The liver weighed thirty-nine ounces; it was dark-brown, firm, its acini indistinct; the gall-bladder contained two drachms of reddish viscid bile and a gall-stone quarter of an inch in diameter. The spleen weighed three ounces and a quarter; it was purple, friable, intensely congested inferiorly, its trabeculæ indistinct. The pancreas was of a dark slate-color, and weighed one ounce and three-quarters. The suprarenal capsules were large, tough, and of a dark coffee-color. The kidneys weighed four ounces each; they were dark colored, tough, and congested inferiorly. The rugæ of the stomach were indistinct. The jejunum was of a reddish slate-color; in its middle third a few inches of the tube were extremely dilated and very thin; the ileum was deeply congested. There were numerous ulcers, varying from the size of a pin's head to that of a half dime, in all parts of the large intestine; they were largest and most abundant in the sigmoid flexure and rectum; these ulcers, in the colon, were chiefly arranged in rows corresponding to the longitudinal muscular bands; many of them penetrated to the muscular coat.—Assistant Surgeon George M. McGill, U. S. A.