Civil War Washington

CASE 101.—Recurring chills; cerebral symptoms slightly marked; gastric irritability; diarrhœa and abdominal tenderness.—Private Frederick Doser, Co. B, 24th N. Y. Vols.; age 24; had been troubled with liver complaint since 1856, and about Sept. 16, 1861, was taken with intermittent fever, which persisted notwithstanding the use of quinine and opium. He was admitted on the 30th as a case of typhoid fever. His eyes were dull, pulse 96, skin natural, tongue moist but furred white; he had pain in the bones and anorexia, cough and pain in the chest, three stools daily with tympanites, iliac tenderness and some gurgling. Opium, antimony and blue-mass in small doses were given every three hours. Next day the pulse was 112, skin somewhat hot, eyes injected and suffused, tongue moist, furred in the centre and red at the edges, bowels much meteorized and tender at the umbilicus. Quinine was given with turpentine emulsion in place of the mercurial. The quinine was continued on the 2d and tincture of iron ordered on the 3d, the pulse having meanwhile fallen to 85, the tongue become cleaner and the appetite improved. A diarrhœa of four stools daily set in on the 4th, followed on the 5th by epigastric pain, intestinal gurgling, tenderness in the right iliac region and in the course of the transverse colon, and on the 6th by loss of appetite and irritability of the stomach. Seven stools were passed on the 9th and three on the 10th, after which the attack gradually declined; during this time there was some head-pain with dizziness and tinnitus aurium, and the tongue remaining red at the tip and edges became covered elsewhere with yellowish patches. Conjunctivitis, which appeared on the 11th, was treated with a zinc wash. On the 14th the pulse was 56 and regular, the skin natural, the tongue moist and clean and the appetite good. The patient was transferred to Annapolis, Md., November 1.