Daily AncestorAnasarca
Anasarca was the medical name for general dropsy: swelling from fluid under the skin of the whole body, not just the legs or belly.
The word comes from Greek for dropsy throughout the flesh. Doctors used it for soft, pale, puffy swelling of the skin all over the body, as opposed to dropsy limited to one cavity.
Anasarca was a sign of serious disease rather than a disease of its own. Failing kidneys, liver or heart could all cause it, so the same death may appear elsewhere as dropsy or Bright's disease.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Nancy Pell, 61, F, W, Mar., Anasarca, 2 mos.
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Daily Ancestor. "Anasarca." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/anasarca. Last checked 2026-10-10.