Civil War Washington

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

CASE 518.—Private Robert B. Craig, company M, 2d New York heavy artillery; age 26; admitted August 11, 1864. Typho-malarial fever. He had previously suffered from chronic diarrhœa. At the time of admission he had some fifteen fetid watery stools daily, and there was excessive tenderness in the right iliac region; he was emaciated and debilitated; pulse 93 and feeble. As he seemed quite feverish, solution of acetate of ammonia was prescribed, combined with tincture of aconite; for the diarrhœa a turpentine mixture, and subsequently Hope's camphor mixture; stimulants were also administered. The diarrhœa was readily controlled, the febrile symptoms abated, and his condition seemed favorable, when a severe cough set in accompanied by excessive expectoration. Expectorants, tonics and stimulants were employed, and counter-irritants applied to the chest, but without benefit. Died, September 5th. Autopsy seven hours after death: There were tubercles in both lungs, and numerous purulent spots about the size of a cherry; the right middle lobe was the only one not affected. The heart was normal. The sigmoid flexure and descending colon were inflamed, and presented spots of ulceration the size of peas. The mucous membrane of the ileum was somewhat inflamed. The other abdominal viscera were normal.

⃰ 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.