Title: Smale, 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), 177.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.chronic diarrhœatyphoid feverlarge intestine congested and thickened, no ulcerationsmall intestine congestedpleuritic adhesions on both sides, both pleura pulmonalis and costalis coated with thick layer of fibrinous exudationdeposit of tubercles in base of left upper lobeboth pleural cavities contained serumautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41184

TEI/XML: med.d1e41184.xml


Case from the case-book of LINCOLN HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C.; Surgeon J. Cooper McKee, U. S. A., in charge.


CASE 397.—Private William Smale, company E, 67th Pennsylvania volunteers; age 22; admitted February 3, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the register of the regimental hospital of the 67th Pennsylvania volunteers, then near Brandy Station, Virginia, admitted December 14, 1863—typhoid fever—sent to general hospital February 3, 1864.] Died, February 27, 1864. Autopsy fifteen hours and a half after death: Height five feet ten inches and a half; body very much emaciated. The brain was soft, but apparently healthy; it weighed forty-four ounces and a half. The larynx and trachea were healthy; there were firm pleuritic adhesions on both sides, and both pleura pulmonalis and costalis were coated with a thick layer of fibrinous exudation; the right pleural cavity contained ten ounces of serum, the left eight ounces. The left lung weighed twenty-four ounces; there was a small deposit of tubercles in the base of its upper lobe; the whole lung was considerably congested, and the anterior part of its lower lobe was carnified; it sank in water; the right lung weighed nineteen ounces and a half; it was moderately congested, but otherwise healthy. The heart was healthy; weight eight ounces and a half. The pericardium contained half an ounce of fluid. The liver was bronzed; there were a few patches of fibrinous exudation on the upper surface of its right lobe: it weighed sixty-nine ounces. The external surface of the spleen was covered with patches of fibrinous exudation; internally the organ was mahogany colored; it weighed eleven ounces and a half. The pancreas was healthy; weight five ounces. The left kidney weighed eight ounces and a half; its cortical substance was pale and fatty; the right kidney was similar to the left, and weighed seven ounces and a half. The small intestine was very much congested. The large intestine was also very much congested and greatly thickened, but there was no ulceration.