Title: Berger, Joseph

Source text: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861-65.), Part 2, Volume 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1879), 196.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom the Third Division of the Alexandria Hospital, Virginiachronic diarrhœa, long standingwhole intestinal tract thickenedcolon contractedmucous membrane of sigmoid flexure softenedautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41535

TEI/XML: med.d1e41535.xml


Case from the case-book of the THIRD DIVISION of the ALEXANDRIA HOSPITAL, Surgeon Edwin Bentley, U. S. V., in charge:⃰


CASE 489.—Private Joseph Berger, company I, 1st New York artillery; admitted September 26, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa of long standing. Has ten or twelve discharges per day; is much emaciated; suffers little pain. Treatment: Tonics, alteratives, opiates and astringents. Died, October 4th. Autopsy eight hours after death: The lungs were healthy. The spleen was congested. Throughout the whole intestinal tract more or less thickening was observed; the colon was contracted; the mucous membrane of the sigmoid flexure softened.


⃰ It is to be regretted that, in most instances, the records of this hospital do not show by whom the autopsies were made. It is known that many of them were made by Surgeon Bentley himself, or under his immediate supervision, but it is only possible to distinguish these from the others in a few cases.