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 520.—Private Eliphalet Phillips, company M, 10th New York cavalry; age 18; admitted August 15, 1864. Chronic diarrhœa. [This man appears on the register of the hospital of the Cavalry Corps, army of the Potomac, admitted July 31st—diarrhœa—sent to general hospital August 9th.] He had been sick about three months. At the time of admission the average number of stools was about five daily, and he was very much emaciated. About first of October the patient was attacked with bronchitis, for which diaphoretics and expectorants were administered with benefit, but a slight cough remained. Died, November 1st, at 5 P. M. During the progress of this case astringents, tonics, ipecacuanha and opium were used in various combinations in connection with nutrients and stimulants. Autopsy fifteen hours after death: Body very rigid and much emaciated. The pericardium contained two ounces of light-colored serum. The heart was normal. The lungs were small; the left lung was highly congested; the upper lobe of the right lung contained many softened tubercles. The bronchial tubes were filled with pinkish frothy mucus. The stomach contained about four ounces of partly digested food. The mucous membrane of the small intestine was highly congested, in some parts inflamed; the last eight inches above the ileo-cæcal valve presented some patches of ulceration. The colon was highly congested, inflamed in some parts, with indications of incipient ulceration. The mesenteric glands were tuberculous. The liver was large, pale outside, mottled inside; the gall-bladder contained half an ounce of yellow inspissated bile. The spleen, pancreas and kidneys were normal. The bladder was empty.

⃰ 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.