New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-06
NEw-YoRK, July ).
CINCINNATI, July 3.
r,,,s,., Z. .....t..s &,
STANLEY MATTHEWS.
SURGICAL HISTORY RECALLED

NOTABLE INSTANCES OF RECOVERY FROM wor->ns
SIMILAR To THAT INFLICTED UPON THE pREsI-
DENr-PRECEDENTs THAT FURNISH STRONG
GROUNDS FOR uoPEFULNEss.
lBY TELEGRAPH TO TIE rRIBUNEI
WAsInNGroN, July 5.-Among the authorities con-
stantly consulted by the physicians i'm attendance
upon the President is The Medical and Surgical
History of the War of the Kcbellion.r In part ..
volume y of that elaborate work, which was pre-
pared under the direction of Surgeon General Barnes
there reported 173 cases of gunshot wounds of
the liver
In some Introductory remarks wounds OF this
nature, Assistant Surgeon Otis said - If the pa
ticns escaped the early danger of hemorrhage they
wcrcikcly TO die of traumatic peritonitis or from
abScess of the hepatic parenchyma. Yet abundant
proof afforded that very serious shot III
Juries of the liver were not necessarily NOR
tai. This will be fully put in evidence
by detailed observations and by tabulated state
mcnts, after the principle varieties of LESSONS OBJ
served on Microscopic examination shall have been
presented. One hundred and scventy-threc cases of
shot wounds of the liver appear on the returns as
having come under treatment"
OF these 173 cases. 90 are described in a general
sense rs uncomplicatcd," where the injury TO
the liver was the dominant lesion" In ia cases
the injury to tho liver "was associated with frac-
lures of the ribs of the vertebral apophyscs or
with LESSONS of the lung, diaphragm stomach,
HcpallC uuctS OF R3ll bladder, OF the
Spleen, pancreas, kidneys or blood vessels"
OF the 80 uncomplicated cases. % or
than ~ per cent, treated with successful
results, and of the la complicated cases. 81 or
more than :52 per cent, treated successfully
The result of treatment in three cases was unascer-
tanned.
One of the eases of recovery reported was by Dr.
ID. w. Bliss who is one of the physicians attending
the President DIR. Bliss was at that time an army
surgeon, in charge of the Armoy Square Hospital In
Washington. The case reported by him was that
of Private Bradley, of the 39th Massachusetts,
Volunteers, who received pistol shot through the
liver at lIa,cher's Run, Virginia. March 30 1865.
"Thc treatment consisted of cold water dressings
and the administration of tonics. aud stimuants."
The patient improved rapidly, and discharged
on May 26, 1865, about two months after he re-
ceived the wound. lie is not pensioner.
Another reported is that of Private w. NJ
Crandall of Company X f2d Ohio Volunteers. This
case derives considerable additional interest from
the fact that the 42d Olio President Garield's
own regiment The medical history of the case is
related as follows:
Private w. NJ, Cranda, Company X, 42d Ohio was
wounded at Nckshurg May D., 1868, by "A mushef ball
which penetrated the right side of the abdomen He re-
manned at the field hospital until June IL whom he was
taken on board the hospital steamer H. &. Wood
Neyed to Memphis, entering GayCss Hospital June
-. Here the injury noted cunshot wound q.
the gastric REGION. On October he was sent 10 tie
hospital OF Camp Dennson. ONO, whence he
Noptiuue al an TfisSl.