Civil War Washington

CASE 87.—Private Niles Ivers, Co. F, 6th Wis., was admitted April 21, 1864, with typho-malarial fever. He stated that he had been sick for a week with fever, which began with chills. He was much prostrated; his bowels were loose and his tongue dry and brown with red edges. Quinine, stimulants and nutriment were ordered. In a few days his respiration became accelerated and he complained of cough and pain in the side, for which he was blistered. Under this treatment he gradually improved, the fever subsiding, but a considerable quantity of liquid remained in the pleural cavity, for the removal of which iodide of potassium was given in free doses and an occasional blister was applied, but without much benefit; the effusion did not embarrass his breathing. Convalescence was slow and he was unable to leave his bed, when, about June 1, symptoms of hectic appeared. He failed gradually and died on the 23d. Post-mortem examination twenty-four hours after death: Body much emaciated; rigor mortis moderate. The left pleural cavity contained about a pint and a half of purulent liquid which compressed the lung against the spinal column; the right cavity contained about six ounces of serum; the right lung was healthy. The intestines were distended with gas; the mucous coat of the stomach and of the intestinal canal was thickened and softened; the glands of Brünner and the solitary glands of the ileum were enlarged and prominent but not ulcerated; the patches of Peyer presented the shaven-beard appearance. The liver was about one-third larger than normal and contained a number of minute abscesses; the spleen was enlarged to three times its normal size and also contained abscesses; the kidneys were healthy. [Specimens 325-6, Med. Sect., Army Medical Museum, are from the spleen of this case.]—Ass't Surg. Geo. A. Mursick, U. S. V., Stanton Hospital, Washington, D. C.