Civil War Washington

One of eight cases observed at the FREEDMAN'S HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C., during 1865, 1866, and 1867.⃰ In none of them were the patients soldiers. Five are of interest as examples of tubercular ulceration of the intestines. Besides the specimens from these cases, several other examples of tubercular ulceration of the intestines are preserved at the Museum, which were obtained from autopsies of colored women who died at the same hospital during the period mentioned. . . . In all of them extensive tubercular deposits were found in the lungs and other organs. Most of the specimens are portions of the ileum with tubercular ulcers of the mucous membrane and miliary tubercles on the peritoneal surface opposite:

CASE 866.—James Evans; light mulatto; age 20; admitted May 3, 1866, between 10 and 11 A. M. No diagnosis. Died, May 4th, at 8 A. M. Autopsy twenty-eight hours after death: A well-formed man; height six feet; weight 150 pounds; rigor mortis partial; some ecchymoses; body covered with copper-colored spots. The brain weighed forty-eight ounces, its membranes were much congested; there was a drachm of fluid in each lateral ventricle; the membranous lining of the ventricles and the choroid plexus were congested. There were a few spicula​ of bone in the walls of the longitudinal sinus; the membranes of the cerebellum were very much congested; the entire substance of the brain was soft, and there was much effusion beneath the arachnoid. In the posterior fossæ of the cranium there were two ounces of serum. The right lung weighed thirty-six ounces and was adherent at all points, its lobes interadherent; the upper and middle lobes contained vomicæ and were filled with crude tubercles; the lower lobe was congested and also contained tubercles; the left lung weighed twenty-six ounces; there were numerous vomicæ and tubercular deposits throughout; it was connected by firm adhesions to the pleura costalis. Each pleural cavity contained four ounces of fluid. The heart weighed twelve ounces; there were adipose deposits on its surface and clots in all its cavities. The liver weighed seventy-nine ounces and was very fatty; the gall-bladder contained half an ounce of bile. The spleen was lobulated, pale slate color externally, reddish internally; it weighed nine ounces. The pancreas weighed four ounces and was apparently normal. The kidneys were fatty; they weighed five ounces each. The stomach and duodenum were congested. The remainder of the small intestine and all of the large intestine exhibited extensive tubercular ulceration, with deposits of tubercle on the peritoneal surface opposite the ulcers. Length of large intestine four feet and a half, small intestine twenty feet.—Hospital Steward D. S. Lamb. [Nos. 808 and 809, Medical Section, Army Medical Museum, are from this case. No. 808 is a portion of the ileum, showing tubercular ulceration of two large Peyer's patches and several solitary follicles; the peritoneal surface opposite the ulcers presents a number of tubercles. No. 809 is the calvarium of same patient, showing a number of flattened reticulated osteophytes on its inner surface.]

⃰ During this period two of the hospital stewards on duty in the Museum, D. S. Lamb and S. S. Bond, were frequently sent to the Freedman's Hospital for the purpose of making autopsies. A considerable number of specimens illustrative of the diseases of the freedmen were thus obtained.