Title: Benson, Stephen

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 diarrhœaevery symptom of confirmed lunaticidiotic when enlisteddiarrhœa for nearly five monthsincontinence of urinedropsybody œdematousslight pleuritic adhesionsliver congestedspleen enlarged and congestedlower ileum thickened, no ulcersautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41542

TEI/XML: med.d1e41542.xml


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


CASE 491.—Private Stephen Benson, company F, 7th Michigan cavalry; age 25; admitted July 19, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa. This patient presented every symptom of a confirmed lunatic, and it was stated by men of his regiment that he was idiotic when enlisted. He was very much debilitated; had suffered from diarrhœa for nearly five months; his pulse was 100 and feeble, and he labored under incontinence of urine. Treatment: Tonics and astringents; a blister over the abdomen. The diarrhœa was checked for a time, but dropsy made its appearance, and subsequently the flux returned in an aggravated form. Died, November 2d. Autopsy eight hours after death: The body was œdematous. There were slight pleuritic adhesions on the left side. The lungs were healthy. The heart was slightly enlarged. The liver was congested. The spleen was much enlarged and congested, weighing three pounds ten ounces. The lower portion of the ileum was thickened, but no ulcers were observed. [There is no record of the condition of the large intestine.]


⃰ 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.