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 453.—Private Henry Brady, company and regiment not recorded; admitted from Sanitary lodge November 12, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. Died, November 13th. Autopsy fourteen hours after death: Great rigor mortis; body emaciated; an old cicatrix in the right iliac region. The subarachnoid space contained half an ounce of clear serum; the brain was normal. Neck and spinal column not examined. There were old pleuritic adhesions on both sides. The left pleural sac contained two ounces of serum. The posterior part of the lower lobe of the left lung was in the first stage of pneumonia, a small portion of it hepatized; the right lung was normal anteriorly, congested posteriorly. The pericardium contained half an ounce of serum. The heart was normal. The spleen was twice the usual size, but apparently normal in structure. The pancreas and liver normal; the gall-bladder contained an ounce of bile. The kidneys were normal; the bladder contained a pint and a half of urine. The mesenteric glands were a little darker than usual. The stomach and small intestine were normal. The descending colon and rectum were contracted, their mucous coat very much thickened and extensively ulcerated.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas Bowen.