Title: Dorsey, Edward

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, Virginiachronic diarrhœatyphoid symptomsgeneral peritonitispain in right iliac region, bloody discharges from bowelsmeninges of brain congestedcicatrix on surface of livermucous membrane of cæcum covered with large ulcers, many nearly perforatedautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41708

TEI/XML: med.d1e41708.xml


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


CASE 533.—Private Edward Dorsey, company A, 3d Maryland volunteers; age 32; admitted April 26, 1865. Chronic diarrhœa. The patient was in an exhausted condition, and had marked typhoid symptoms, viz: pain in the right iliac region, sudamina, tongue coated and cracked, frequent pulse and delirium; the discharges from the bowels were bloody. Treatment: Tonics, astringents, anodynes and stimulants. A nourishing diet was ordered, but the patient was able to eat very little. Died, May 1st. Autopsy ten hours after death: The meninges of the brain were much congested, and a small quantity of serum was found at the base of the brain. The lungs were normal. There was a cicatrix (?) on the surface of the liver two inches long by half an inch broad. The mucous membrane of the cæcum was covered with large ulcers, many of which had nearly perforated. Evidences of general peritonitis were observed.


⃰ 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.