W. H. McANDREW, M.D.,
Surgeon, 57th Regiment.
Camp, Sebastopol, Sept. 14th, 1855.
Private John Purcell, 57th Regiment, aged twenty-one, was wounded upon the 18th of June, in the unsuccessful assault upon the Redan, by a Minié rifle-ball, which passed directly through the head of the humerus, but did not touch the glenoid cavity. Upon the 22d of June, the head of the bone was excised; and upon the 26th of August, the man was discharged from hospital, quite well, for the purpose of proceeding to England. The excised bone is in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
W. H. McANDREW, M. D.,
Surgeon, 57th Regiment.
Camp, Sebastopol, Sept. 14th, 1855.
The following case of wound of the larynx is instructive:—
Lieutenant Charles H. Evans, 55th Regiment, aged nineteen years, was wounded on the evening of the 5th of August, 1855, about eleven o’clock P.M., while on duty in the trenches. The ball entered the right side of the neck, close to the angle of the jaw, and passed apparently between the hyoid bone and the arytenoid cartilages, and then downward, having its exit below the cricoid cartilage on the left side. The pharynx and larynx were wounded, and the trachea was contused and displaced. Respiration somewhat hurried; a quantity of mucus collects in the trachea, and is expectorated in fits.
About seven o’clock P.M. of the 6th, the respiration becoming more difficult, with a degree of lividity of the lips, indicative of the non-oxygenation of the blood, it was deemed advisable to have recourse to tracheotomy, which, in consequence of the displacement of the parts and the swelling, was effected with considerable difficulty. The usual tubes were found too short for the purpose, and a large silver catheter was inserted, through which the air passed freely. Whenever he attempted to drink, the liquid passed into the trachea through the openings caused by the ball. From the operation no benefit arose, and he continued very restless until within an hour of his decease, which took place about twenty-six hours after the receipt of the wound. The voice was never heard above a whisper.
Post-mortem examination, twelve hours after death. The ball would appear to have passed through the hyo-thyroid membrane, fracturing and shattering the thyroid cartilage. The membrane lining the glottis was torn and destroyed. The vessels escaped without injury, the ball having passed anteriorly.