Today in History:

695 Series I Volume XXXVIII-II Serial 73 - The Atlanta Campaign Part II

Page 695 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.--ARMY OF THE OHIO.

The fevers have been of a typho-malarial and malarial character, chiefly the latter. The more severe cases of this class were sent to the rear, and hence no observations relative to them could be made. The cases of pure malarial fever, however, were mostly treated in the regiments or in the division hospital, and readily yielded to a mercurial cathartic, followed by quinine in full doses. And here it may be remarked that it has been a matter of surprise to some medical officers that such large quantities of the latter article were used. This, as a matter of fact, is true, but I am not inclined to believe that the allowance could have been materially diminished without detriment to the command. Early in June I discovered evident signs of malarial poisoning of the atmosphere, and in one instance several regiments of the First Division were stationed in a strip of heavy timber, or rather, low ground, and as a consequence the sick list of those regiments was increased nearly 50 per cent. over that of former reports, and all, or nearly all, of the additional cases were of a malarial origin, mostly quotidian or tertian intermittent. They yielded readily to free doses of quinine, and from that time to the present the command has not been free from that class of diseases, which demands the free use of this drug in order that the soldier may be returned to duty at an early day. In regard to the use of mercurial in this class of diseases, my opinion is that they are urgently demanded. I am well aware that a dose of quinine will break up an attack of intermittent, but that it will leave the system in a condition to enable it to ward off an immediate return of the same is a doubtful proposition, to say the least, and I find a ready explanation of this in the fact that while the army ration is well suited to supply the requisite nourishment and support in a Northern climate, yet, in a Southern climate, and that in mid-summer, the same ration will, from the excess of carbonaceous material introduced into the system over and above what is required to keep the body at its proper degree of temperature, produce congestion of the portal circulation and general derangement of the hepatic functions which constitute the almost universally predisposing cause of malarial fevers. To relieve this congestion and restore the normal functions of the liver, I have generally resorted to the use of mercury in some of its varied forms, and with almost uniform success. This plan, I believe, has been generally acted upon by the medical officers of the division, and in no case have I seen or heard of any evil results arising from the use of mercury.

Of the operating board it is a great pleasure for me to be able to state that I have not been disappointed in a single member. They have all discharged the duties allotted to them in a faithful, prompt, and entirely satisfactory manner. Surg. J. H. Rodgers, One hundred and fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Surg. G. A. Collamore, One hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Surg. W. H. Mullins, Twelfth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and Asst. Surg. E. E. Lynn, Sixty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, have my especial thanks for the manner in which they have performed their duties as chief operators; and the fact that but one case died while in the division hospital, after being operated on by this board, is certainly favorable to the consideration with which I regard them. Three only have died after having operations performed. One of these was an amputation at the hip joint, the patient dying on the table; another was a wound of the axillary artery, in which it was found necessary to ligate it. The patient died some four days after, gangrene hav-


Page 695 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.--ARMY OF THE OHIO.