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 448.—Private Monroe Ungers, company B, 50th Pennsylvania volunteers; age 18; admitted from the field August 10, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man is borne on the register of the depot hospital of the 9th Corps, City Point, Virginia, admitted August 3d—remittent fever; no disposition.] Died, November 1st. Autopsy thirteen hours after death: Rigor mortis great; body extremely emaciated; slight suggillation posteriorly. Head, neck and spinal column not examined. There were extensive old adhesions posteriorly between the lower lobe of the left lung and the costal pleura; the right pleural cavity contained an ounce of serous fluid; the left lung was healthy; the right healthy anteriorly, but posteriorly presented the appearances of gray hepatization; on the posterior surface of the lower lobe was a deposit of recent lymph about an inch in diameter. The pericardium contained two ounces of serum. The heart was very small, weighing about four ounces; its structure was healthy although pale. The cavities of both sides contained small, firm, white clots. The stomach was normal. The small intestine was congested throughout its whole extent, and very much inflamed near the ileo-cæcal; the large intestine inflamed and ulcerated in spots. The liver was congested; the gall-bladder contained an ounce and a half of yellow bile. The pancreas was normal. The kidneys were of a darker color than usual; the bladder contained about an ounce of urine.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas Bowen.