Civil War Washington

CASE 22.—Private Henry Royer, Co. C, 148th Pa., died June 30, 1863, from an attack of typhoid fever. Post-mortem examination twenty-four hours after death: Slight cadaveric rigidity: much bloody froth issuing from the mouth and nostrils. The mucous lining of the stomach was irregularly colored; it was of a slaty hue at the pylorus, mottled reddish and blackish. Beneath the epithelial lining of the duodenum a quantity of gas was found, supposed to be due to putrefactive changes. Below this point the mucous membrane was of a dull whitish color, very inelastic and easily torn. Eight feet from the ileo-cæecal valve Peyer's patches commenced to be involved; at first the upper and lower parts of the patch were swollen, livid, not ulcerated, the centre being natural; lower down some were entirely livid, with no ulceration; about one foot from the valve was one very large patch with thick high walls, ulcerated centre and numerous small ulcerated points in its area. These portions were of a lighter hue than the non-ulcerated portions, but none of them perforated the gut; the largest patches gave the intestine a honey-combed appearance from the peculiarity of the ulceration. The large intestine was of a grayish-slate color, its mucous membrane softned but not ulcerated.—Ass't Surg. Harrison Allen, U. S. A., Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.