Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book of the SECOND DIVISION of the ALEXANDRIA HOSPITAL, Virginia, Surgeon Edwin Bentley, U. S. V., in charge. Autopsy was made and recorded in the case-book by Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas Bowen:

CASE 446.—Private James K. Foltz, company B, 60th Ohio volunteers; age 17; admitted from the field October 12, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the register of the depot hospital of the 9th Corps, City Point, Virginia, admitted September 1st—rheumatism and diarrhœa; no disposition.] Died, October 27th. Autopsy forty-eight hours after death: Rigor mortis great; body extremely emaciated; bed-sores posteriorly. Head, neck and spinal column not examined. The left pleural cavity contained an ounce of fluid, and there was a recent deposit of lymph on the left lung posteriorly; a small deposit of tubercle was observed in the lower lobe of the left lung; the lower lobe of the right lung was in the last stage of pneumonia; its structure broke down easily when crushed between the fingers; it was adherent to the costal pleura. The heart and pericardium were normal. The liver was normal; the gall-bladder contained about two drachms of bile. The spleen and pancreas were normal. The mucous membrane of the stomach and jejunum was quite healthy; that of the lower part of the ileum, colon, and rectum very much inflamed, but not ulcerated, nor were there any ulcerations in Peyer's patches. The mesenteric glands were very dark colored. The kidneys were normal; the bladder empty.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas Bowen.