A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office.

Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    radius, destroyed the outer condyle of tlie liuinenis, chipped tlie coronoid process of the tilna, and splintered the radius down to the upper border of the pronator quadratus muscle. The whole internal structure of the arm, on the radial side, was torn and hanging from a large gaping wound on the anterior surface of the fore-arm. Nerves and vessels were cut and torn. On the same day he was admitted to the post hospital at Huntsville, Alabama, feeble from loss of blood and great pain; pulse about 80. Ether was at once administered, and the arm was amputated at the lower third by the double-flap method. The htemorrhage was about three ounces. Three ligatures were used. The wound was allowed to glaze before closing the flaps with interrupted sutures. Cerate dressing and a solution of carbolic acid were applied. Eeaction was moderate and not delayed. The sutures were removed on the third day. The edges of the wound had united, and had to be opened to give free egress to pus. The patient had no appetite for several days, but it was restored by irou and quinine, and the case ijrogressed favorably. The ligatures came away on the eleventh and thirteenth days. There was strong disposition of the edges of the wound to close, and it w^as with difficulty that they were kept so as to allow a free discharge. On the 15th of June, the patient was up and about, and on June 30th the wound had closed, with the exception of a small point, at one corner, which had ceased discharging, and was about to heal. The patient was in excellent health. He was returned to duty July 18, 1869. DXXIX.—Report of a Primary Amputation of tlie Arm for Gunshot Injury. By S. T. Weirick, M. D., Acting Assistant Surgeon. Private William Jackson, Co. E, 16th Infantry, aged 24 years, at Macon, Georgia, June 19, 1868, while firing a salute was wounded, by the premature discharge of a cannon, which blew off his right arm. The right hand and fore-arui were coniiiletely gone, and the parts badly contused and burned. On the same day he Avas admitted to the hospital of the post, and VV. P. Bowes, Acting Assistant Surgeon, amputated the arm at the u^jper third of the humerus, by the circular method. On June 30th the case was progressing favorably. The i)atient was transferred to hospital at Atlanta, Georgia, August 0th, and* was discharged the service October 22, 1809, for loss of right arm. DXXX.—Account of an Amputation of the Arm and Fore-Arm. By W. J. Piper, M. D., Acting Assistant Surgeon. Private William Jones, Co. A, 20th Infantry, aged 21 years, while firing a salute February 22, 1868, at Baton Eouge, Louisiana, was wounded by the premature exj^losion of the charge. The left hand was blown away, the radius and ulna, and the humerus at the middle fractured, and the soft parts contused. The right fore-arm was comminuted above the carpus, and was attached only by a few tendons. The lower maxilla was fractured on both sides anterior to the angle, and the anterior portion of the chest and abdomen burned. He was at once admitted to the post hospital, and one hour after the injury William Thomson, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A,, administered ether and chloroform, with embarrassment on account of oppressed and difficult respiration from displacement of the lower maxilla and bleeding in the mouth, and amputated the left arm at the middle, and the right fore-arm at the lower third, by the double flap method. The i^atient rallied after the operation, and took liquid food, stimulants, &c. Eespiration w^as sibilant and labored from obstructions at the glottis. He died February 25, 1868, at 7 P. M., from exhaustion, having been very restless and slightly delirious for twenty-four hours. At the post-mortem nothing worth mentioning was found. The seats of fracture of the lower maxilla were examined, and the soft parts found infiltrated with blood, with lacerations extending into the buccal cavity. DXXXI.—Account of an Amputation of the Arm for Gunshot Injury. By B. J. D. Irwin, Surgeon, U. S. A. First Lieutenant Eansom Kennicott, Co. F, 19th Infantry, aged 2S years, was accidentally wounded, while handling his gun, by a charge of small bird shot, which passed through the left