Title: Allerdist, William

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), 165.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.Germanchronic diarrhœa and anasarcapericardium contained moderate quantity of fluidwhitish cheesy tubercles in both lungs, surrounded with melanic matter in apices of upper lobescortical substance of kidneys ash-colored, bases of pyramids deep-blood color, capsules separated readilysuprarenal capsules greenish-yellow internally, several loose yellowish bodies of fibrinous appearance in interiorileum dilated, walls thin, patches of Peyer congested and dotted with black pointsdescending colon, sigmoid flexure, and rectum ulceratedsolitary glands in colon had dark spots in centresascending colon presented deep-purple color, farther up deep-ash color with purple spotsautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41041

TEI/XML: med.d1e41041.xml


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


CASE 355.—Private William Allerdist, company D, 20th New York volunteers; German; admitted January 2, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa and anasarca. Died, March 16th. Autopsy twenty hours after death: Height five feet four inches; body slightly emaciated; apparent age 28. The brain weighed fifty ounces and a quarter; there was some effusion in the subarachnoid space; in other respects the brain was healthy. The heart was small; it had very little adipose tissue about it; the valves were normal; the right side was filled with black clots. The pericardium contained a moderate quantity of fluid. Both lungs contained a considerable number of whitish cheesy tubercles; in the apices of their upper lobes these were surrounded with a considerable quantity of melanic matter; the lower lobes were congested and purplish on section. The bronchial tubes were congested and dilated; the larger tubes filled with a frothy mucoid serum. The right lung weighed twenty-two ounces and a quarter, the left twenty-three ounces and three-quarters. The liver weighed forty six ounces and a half; it was firm, full of blood, very finely mottled and smooth purplish-brown. The spleen weighed three ounces and a half; it was firm, full of blood, its trabeculæ distinct. The left kidney weighed eight ounces and a half, the right seven ounces; the cortical substance of the kidneys was ash-colored, the bases of the pyramids of a deep-blood color, the capsules separated readily. The suprarenal capsules were large, greenish-yellow internally, and very friable. In the interior of the left suprarenal capsule were several loose yellowish bodies of a fibrinous appearance. The pancreas was normal and weighed two ounces and a half. The stomach was large, its fundus congested. The mucous membrane of the duodenum was thin and soft; that of the jejunum was of a yellowish-ash color in its upper portion, purplish lower down; the ileum was dilated, its walls quite thin; all the patches of Peyer except the first were congested and dotted with black points. The cæcum was dilated and congested; the ascending colon at first presented a deep-purple color; farther up it was greatly contracted, of a deep-ash color with purple spots; the solitary glands had dark spots in their centres; the transverse colon was also much contracted; the descending colon, sigmoid flexure, and rectum were ulcerated; in the descending colon the ulcers were chiefly grouped along one of the longitudinal bands; they were of moderate size and had indistinct edges; in the sigmoid flexure they appeared as little pits, with indistinct edges, and were irregularly scattered over the mucous membrane; in the rectum they were of larger size, and quite irregular in shape.—Assistant Surgeon George M. McGill, U. S. A.