Civil War Washington

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

CASE 417.—Private William Lloyd, company H, 48th Pennsylvania volunteers; age 27; admitted from City Point, Virginia, January 7, 1865. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the register of the hospital of the 2d Division, 9th Corps, admitted December 2, 1864—diarrhœa—sent to depot hospital December 7th. He is borne on the register of the depot hospital of the 9th Corps, City Point, Virginia, admitted December 7th—chronic diarrhœa—sent to general hospital January 5, 1865.] Died, January 11th. Autopsy fifteen hours after death: Height five feet four inches and a half; rigor mortis well marked; body much emaciated. The brain weighed forty-four ounces; its meninges were opaque, and there was a much larger quantity of subarachnoid fluid than normal. The larynx and trachea were normal. There were firm, but apparently recent, pleuritic adhesions on the left side. Both lungs were much congested, and weighed nineteen ounces each. The heart weighed seven ounces and a half; its right cavities contained a large opaque fibrinous clot; the left side contained a small vermiform clot. The spleen was light colored, and weighed but two ounces and a half. The liver appeared to be normal, and weighed fifty-five ounces and a half. The kidneys weighed four ounces each. The œsophagus, stomach and small intestine were normal, with the exception of the lower portion of the ileum, where Peyer's patches presented the shaven-beard appearance, and the mucous membrane was much congested. In the large intestine the mucous membrane was entirely destroyed by ulceration, some of the ulcers penetrating to the peritoneum.—Acting Assistant Surgeon H. M. Dean.