Civil War Washington

CASE 47.—Private Elias Brink, Co. B, 137th N. Y.; age 53; was admitted Jan. 18, 1863, having been sick two weeks. He spoke of having hurt his back and ruptured himself by a fall while on the march, and complained of pain in his back. Symptoms of what was supposed to be pericarditis made their appearance on February 7, and next day veratrum viride was prescribed. On the 11th he was noticed to be very deaf; his pulse was slow and weak, and vomiting had set in. The veratrum viride was discontinued. Next day he lapsed into stupor and when aroused with difficulty from this state his answers were incoherent; his breathing was rapid. On the 11th an eruption like that of typhoid fever made its appearance on his body and extremities; he coughed much and muttered to himself; there appeared to be some iliac tenderness; his urine required to be drawn off by catheter. Next day his evacuations became involuntary. He died on the 19th. Post-mortem examination four hours after death: Body emaciated; rigor mortis marked. The brain weighed forty-six ounces; it was light-colored, of firm consistence and contained much fluid in its ventricles. The heart was healthy. The right lung weighed fifteen ounces, the left thirteen ounces; the right was full of blood, the upper lobe being somewhat congested and the lower universally so; the upper lobe of the left lung was congested; collapsed lobules were observed in the lower lobes of both lungs; the bronchial tubes were congested and some of the smaller ones contained pus. The liver weighed fifty-four ounces and was universally congested; the gall-bladder contained eleven drachms of dark-green bile; the spleen weighed five ounces and a half and was of a dark-slate color externally, dark-red internally and moderately firm in consistence; the kidneys weighed four ounces and a half each and were of a rather dark color; the stomach was slightly congested. The mucous membrane of the small intestine was softened, especially near the ileo-cæcal valve; it was slightly congested in the jejunum and upper third of the ileum, decidedly so in the lower two-thirds of the ileum, where a number of ulcers were observed. The cæcum was of a dark-slate color; the rest of the large intestine was normal. The mesenteric and mesocolic glands were enlarged, especially the latter.—Ass't Surg. George M. McGill, U. S. A., Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.