Title: Benson, Jerome

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), 202.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom the Third Division of the Alexandria Hospital, Virginiadiarrhœa and pleurisycough, bloody expectoration, pain in chestsordes on teeth and lipspleuritic adhesionsdeposit of tubercle in upper lobe of lungpericardium contained light-colored serummucous membrane of pyloric orifice inflamed and ulceratedsmall intestine presented tubercular ulcerskidney contained tuberclesautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41694

TEI/XML: med.d1e41694.xml


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


CASE 530.—Private Jerome Benson, company C, 123d Indiana volunteers; age 18; admitted from Soldiers Rest February 18, 1865. Diarrhœa and pleurisy. This patient had a severe diarrhœa, cough, and bloody expectoration, with pain in the chest, increased on inspiration; his skin was hot; the pulse quick. The diarrhœa diminished under astringent treatment, but the chest-symptoms became more severe, and sordes collected on the teeth and lips. February 22d: Ordered a combination of ipecacuanha with mercury and chalk. February 23d: The dyspnœa has become intense. Ordered stimulants. Died, February 23d. Autopsy sixteen hours after death: Body well nourished; decided rigor mortis; the marks of a blister on the right side of the chest; suggillation posteriorly. There were recent, pleuritic adhesions on the left side, but no effusion in the pleural sac. In the upper lobe of the left lung there was a deposit of tubercle. The pericardium contained four ounces of light-colored serum. The heart was small but normal. The stomach was large and filled with gas; near the pyloric orifice its mucous membrane was inflamed and ulcerated. The small intestine presented a number of tubercular ulcers. The appendix vermiform is was doubled upon itself, and bound in that position by bands of lymph. The left kidney contained tubercles. The other viscera appeared to be 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.