TKEATMENT OF HERNIA. 495 



chronic, reduction is much more difficult, there heing, as a rule, adhe- 

 sions between the intestine and the hernial sac. 



TREATMENT OF HERNI.^. 



Numerous attempts have been made to treat abdominal hernia in 

 bovine animals. 



Irritant and vesicant applications to the skin have been recom- 

 mended, with the object of producing a large swelling, and thus 

 thrusting back the herniated mass into its proper position. 



One of the most popular of these applications is nitric acid of a 

 strength of 36^ Baume, applied to the skin twice at an interval of 

 ten days. Skilfully used, it gives good results in umbilical hernia, 

 but its effects in ventral hernise are less certain. It causes slow 

 mortification of the skin, abundant subcutaneous swelling, and pro- 

 duces an eschar, which separates in about a fortnight. 



An ointment of yellow chromate of potash (1 to 8) has been recom- 

 mended, and can be applied two or three times at intervals of eight or 

 ten days. 



Bandaging and various forms of local dressing have also been em- 

 ployed from time to time. Serres employed simple bandages similar 

 to those used in cases of inguinal or crural hernia in human beings. 

 These bandages have a pad, which is applied over the hernial opening, 

 but their action is strictly palliative. They simply allow of the animal 

 being kept a certain length of time for fattening. 



When the hernia has been reduced recourse may be had to bandaoes 

 saturated in melted pitch, care being taken to extend the dressing a con- 

 siderable distance beyond the limits of the hernial opening. Successive 

 layers of bandage are superposed across and across, and, to make the 

 dressing more solid, the pads may be reinforced with a sheet of solid 

 cardboard. This method only succeeds when the swelling is slight and 

 is situated elsewhere than in the lowest portions of the abdomen. 



Some practitioners prefer a cloth bandage after reduction. The 

 bandage is ten to fifteen yards in length, and should be considerably 

 wider than the greatest measurement of the hernial opening. Such 

 bandages can easily be applied to calves, whose bodies are of regular 

 shape, but in adults, in which the body is of ovoid formation, they 

 prove faulty, and tend to slide backwards or forwards. 



All these measures are merely more or less palliative and of tem- 

 porary effect. 



The only rational and radical treatment is surgical. This is clearly 

 indicated when the hernia is recent and of small size. At a later stage, 

 when fibrous adhesions have formed between the various organs, and 

 reduction has become difficult, caution must be observed. Surgical 



