Description of selected specimens from the medical section of the Army Medical Museum at Washington, exhibited in room no. 2 / J.J. Woodward.

Army Medical Department

Date:: 1876

Credit: Description of selected specimens from the medical section of the Army Medical Museum at Washington, exhibited in room no. 2 / J.J. Woodward. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$12. (472.) Portion of heart, showing aortic valves ulcerated and beset with fibriuons deposits; left ventricle greatly thickened. Prom a soldier of the r)th Massachusetts Battery, in whom the cardiac affection supervened upon articular rheumatism. Anasarca and great dyspnoea preceded death. The lungs were found gi-eatly congested. There was a small quantity of fluid in the right jileural sac, and two ounces of fluid in the pericardium. {Gat. of Med. Sect., 18()7, ]y. 1).) Con- tributed by Acting Assistant Surgeon 0. P. Sweet. 13. (332.) Heart and pericardium, the latter slit open to show its opposing sur- faces plastered with psendo-membraiions lymph. From a soldier of the 121th New York, who had suffered six months fi-om rlieumatism, and died of plenro-iaueuinonia and pericarditis. {Gat. of Med. Seat., 1867, p. 18.) Contributed by Acting Assist- ant Surgeon G. B. Boyd. In the next two cases sudden deatla occurred: In No. 14 fi^m the rupture of a very small anevirism in a young subject; in No. 15 the cause appears to have been the establishment of a fistulous communica- tion between the root of the aorta and the right auricle. 14. (55S.) Small aneurism of the aorta, just above the semilunar valves ; the sac, which is about the size of a walnut, has ulcerated through into the pulmonary artery and the pericardium. Prom a soldier of the 1st Maryland Veterans, age 22, who was apparently in go^d health, and doing guard-duty, when he suddenly fell insensible, and expired in a few moments. The pericardium was found distended with blood escaped from the ruptured aneurism. {Gat. of Med. Sect., 1807, p. 21.) Contrib- uted by Assistant Surgeon A. Ansell, 1st Maryland Veterans. ir>. (346.) Heart, somewhat hypertrophied, with its aortic valves partly de- stroyed by an ulceration, which extends deeply into the substance of the heart and communicates by a fistulous orifice with the right auricle. From a soldier of the 8nth Ohio, age 22, who died suddenly while under treatment for scrofula. {Gat. of Med. Sect., 18C7, p. 10.) Contributed by Assistant Surgeon C. J. Kipp, U. S. Vols. The following case is an example of very extensive fibrinous heart- clots, formed probably during the death agony. Similar clots attracted much attention durmg the civil war, and were often erroneously sup- posed to have been the cause of death. 10. (638.) Heart, containing fibrinous clots in all its cavities: those in the left ventricle are long and ramifying, extending into the aorta and its branches'; those in the right ventricle extend in the same way into the pulmonary artery and its branches, but are.not so long. Prom a soldier of the 1st Connecticnt Cavalry, dge i>0, who died of consumption, accompanied by paralysis of the lower extremities. The lungs were tubercular, and contained vomicie; the liver and kidneys fatty ; the brain was soft, and the arachnoid somewhat opaque. {Gat. of Med. Sect., 1807, p. 10.) Contributed by Surgeon P. A. Jewett, U. S. Vols. The next twenty-three specimens are illustrative of the various phases of the typhous process. No. 21 is interesting on account of the degree to which the solitaiy follicles of the ileum are enlarged. In Nos. 22 and$