These ulcers were of sizes
varying from that of a lentil to the size of a walnut. Where the disease
had been progressive the intima, the mucosa and submucosa--very seldom,
however, the serosa--were perforated by ulcers; in many cases there were
gangraenous patches in the fundus of the stomach and along the intestinal
tract. The gastric juice smelled highly acid, frequently the liver was
discolored and contained a bluish liquid, its lower part in most cases
hardened and bluish; the gall bladder, as a rule, was empty or contained
only a small amount of bile; the mesenteric glands were mostly inflamed,
sometimes purulent; the mesenteric and visceral vessels appeared often as
if studded with blood. Such patients had suffered sometimes from gastralgy,
had had a great craving for food, especially vegetables, but were during
that time entirely free from fever.
Remarkably sudden disaster followed the immoderate use of alcohol. Some
Wuerttembergian soldiers, who during the first days of July had been sent
on requisition, had discovered large quantities of brandy in a nobleman's
mansion, and had indulged in its immoderate use and died, like all
dysentery patients who took too much alcohol.
The number of Wuerttembergians afflicted with dysentery, while on the march
from the Niemen to the Dwina, amounted to three thousand, at least this
many were left behind in the hospitals of Malaty, Wilna, Disna, Strizzowan
and Witepsk. The number of deaths in the hospitals increased as the disease
proceeded, from day to day, and the number of those who died on the march
was not small.
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