VI.— ACUTE INGUINAL HERNIA. 



Last month an entire horse left here for treatment underwent two 

 grave operations on the same day, one of which was rendered necessary 

 by a quite unexpected accident. We had cast the animal in the 

 morning to operate for necrosis of some of the horn-secreting tissues 

 resulting from a prick in shoeing. The same evening we had to cast it 

 again : it had a strangulated inguinal hernia — a hernia certainly due to 

 the violent struggles it had made during the first operation. The 

 history of this horse is interesting for a double reason, of which you 

 will judge later. 



It was brought for examination on the i6th April because it went 

 lame on the off fore-leg, and, to assist us in diagnosis, the driver 

 stated that the animal had fallen the night before on the right side, — 

 that before this fall it had not shown the slightest defect, but that it 

 had gone lame immediately afterwards. 



I may add that it was brought here by its regular driver, who 

 mentioned that he had found the shoulder painful, that he regarded it 

 as the seat of lameness, and that the farrier who had been referred to 

 said the same thing. We thus had to guide us the opinion of two 

 experts. 



I examined the horse before you. I showed you that the different 

 portions of the limb exhibited no recent lesion to explain the lameness, 

 and that the shoulder especially was neither swollen nor painful. 

 Rather more restlessness was certainly shown on this side when the two 

 shoulders were comparativel)^ examined, but that was due to a slight 

 stimulant application which had been made, and possibly also to the 

 manipulation, pressure, and traction carried out by the two colleagues. 

 Percussion on the foot, however, produced very evident flinching. On 

 lightly tapping around the hoof near the shoe the animal responded 

 by lifting the foot. A similar test applied to the other foot produced 

 no result. On removing the shoe — especially when I lifted the inner 

 branch with the pincers — the animal again showed signs of pain. 

 Similarly, when I "tried the foot round " by compressing the circum- 

 ference, the animal was uneasy. The quarters and the inner heel were 

 especially sensitive. I then proceeded to cut a groove along the white 



