Civil War Washington

CASE 23.—Private Dudley Whitlock, Co. E, 5th Mich. Cav.; age 17; was admitted March 25, 1863. On April 1 his condition was noted as follows: Weak; tongue dry and coated; pulse 144, compressible; respiration 66, difficult; bowels regular; skin hot and dry; bed-sores on back and hips; urine passed involuntarily; dulness​ on percussion over each lung, most marked posteriorly; greatly increased vocal resonance; bronchial respiration; irritable cough. 3d: Pulse 130; respiration 11O; sputa somewhat tenacious. 6th: Stronger; profuse semi-purulent discharge from each ear. 7th: Diarrhœa, seven stools; pulse 110; respiration 41; tongue moist. 10th: Diarrhœa continues; he refuses medicine. Body sponged with whiskey; medicine given by enema. 14th: Pulse 158; respiration 21; weak; death. Post-mortem examination twenty hours after death: Rigor mortis; emaciation, brain normal. Trachea and bronchi filled with white viscid sputa; mucous membrane dark purplish; bronchial glands firm, of a dull liver color mottled blackish in centre. Lungs solidified and dark purple posteriorly, reddish anteriorly; minute whitish points in central portions; pleuritic effusion on left side. Heart contained small white clots on both sides. Liver mottled purple and pale yellow, interlobular areas yellowish; twenty-six drachms of dark bile in gall-bladder. Spleen firm, dark mulberry color. Œsophagus pale; mucous membrane of stomach mottled a delicate pink color; deposit of black pigment on pylorus. Small intestine in upper part pale yellowish; duodenum filled with thick stringy mucus; Peyer's patches normal to within eighteen inches of ileo-cæcal valve, where they were thickened, elevated, congested and in many places indurated and ulcerated, the ulcers having well-defined edges and in some instances reddish bases; solitary follicles the size of small shot. Mucous membrane of large intestine pale, rugæ dark red; solitary glands prominent, dotted with pigment in centre; lower portion of intestine presenting many minute superficial ulcers unconnected with solitary glands. Kidneys pale; suprarenal capsules mottled.—Ass't Surg. Harrison Allen, U. S. A., Lincoln Hospital, Washington D. C.