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 458.—Private George W. Doremire, company M, 2d Pennsylvania cavalry; age 19; admitted from Soldiers' Rest October 5, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the hospital register of the Soldiers Rest, Alexandria, Virginia, admitted June 28th—chronic diarrhœa; no disposition.] Died, November 23th. Autopsy fourteen hours after death: Rigor mortis great; body very much emaciated; sordes on teeth. Head, neck and spinal column not examined. The pericardium contained about a drachm of serum. The heart was small, but normal in position and structure, except that the foramen ovale was not perfectly closed; the opening was very oblique, and its edges overlapped so that there could be no admixture of blood in the auricles. There were small dark clots in both auricles and ventricles. There were old pleuritic adhesions on the left side posteriorly, and at the apex of the lung. The lower lobe of the left lung generally was in the first stage of pneumonia; a small portion of it was hepatized; the lobes of the right lung were adherent to each other; the lower lobe was in the same condition as the corresponding lobe of the left lung, except that its inferior margins were coated with recent lymph. The mucous membrane of the stomach, duodenum, and jejunum was normal; that of the lower part of the ileum was congested in patches, while in the cæcum, colon, and rectum the mucous membrane was much inflamed. There were five ulcers, the size of grains of barley, in the rectum. The liver, pancreas, and kidneys were normal. The spleen was indurated, and weighed but about two ounces.—Acting Assistant Surgeon Thomas Bowen.