The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield: Twentieth President of the United States, Including Full and Accurate Details of His Eventful Administration, Assassination, Last Hours, Death, Etc., Together with Notable Extracts from His Speeches and LettersBrown, E. E. (Emma Elizabeth)
History
The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield: Twentieth President of the United States, Including Full and Accurate Details of His Eventful Administration, Assassination, Last Hours, Death, Etc., Together with Notable Extracts from His Speeches and Letters
Brown, E. E. (Emma Elizabeth)
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents -- United States -- Biography
The rending of the tissues by the extravasation of this blood was
undoubtedly the cause of the paroxysms of pain which occurred a short
time before death. This mass of coagulated blood was of irregular form,
and nearly as large as a man's fist. It could be distinctly seen from in
front through the peritoneum, after the greater curvature of the stomach
had been exposed by the dissolution of the greater omentum from the
stomach, and especially after some delicate adhesions between the
stomach and the part of the peritoneum covering the blood mass had been
broken down by the fingers. From the relations of the mass, as thus
seen, it was believed that the hemorrhage had proceeded from one of the
mesenteric arteries; but, as it was clear that a minute dissection
would be required to determine the particular branch involved, it was
agreed that the infiltrated tissues and the adjoining soft parts should
be preserved for subsequent study. On the examination and dissection
made in accordance with this agreement, it was found that the fatal
hemorrhage proceeded from a rent, nearly four tenths of an inch long, in
the main trunk of the splenic artery, two inches and a half to the left
of the coeliac axis. The rent must have occurred at least several days
before death, since the everted edges in the slit in the vessel were
united by firm adhesions to the surrounding connective tissue, thus
forming an almost continuous wall, bounding the adjoining portion of the
blood clot. Moreover, the peripheral portion of the clot in this
vicinity was disposed in pretty firm concentric layers. It was further
found that the cyst below the lower margin of the pancreas, in which the
bullet was found, was situated three and one-half inches to the left of
the coeliac axis. Beside the mass of coagulated blood just described,
another about the size of a walnut was found in the greater omentum,
near the splenic extremity of the stomach. The communication, if any,
between this and the larger hemorrhagic mass could not be made out.
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