414 Internal Stranyulatiuu of the Intestine. 



cord retracts after tearing off its peritoneal covering, and gets 

 from the spermatic canal into the abdominal cavity, or the 

 spermatic cord is torn in its abdominal portion. In either case 

 the remnants of the cord will either float as a free stmnp in 

 the abdominal cavity or it will become adherent to the perito- 

 neum and form a cleft. Since castration is performed accord- 

 ing to different methods in various places, the affection only 

 occurs in such regions where castration is performed as above 

 described. Walch found this abnormality of the spermatic 

 cord without strangiilation in oxen in 60 to 70 7o of the slaugh- 

 tered animals. Tearing of the fibrous tunic of the external 

 inguinal ring by a strong pull can also be detrimental if the 

 spermatic cord is severed transversely, and if the testicle and 

 vessels are then pulled off. A case of strangulatio ducto-sper- 

 matica in a horse has been described ])y Janson; in this case 

 the pouch of Douglas had likewise been torn. Metzger and 

 Strauss have exceptionally seen the affection in sheep. Tear- 

 ing of the reduplication of the peritoneum in sheep and in 

 other animals is rare, since this fold of peritoneum is more re- 

 sistant and smaller than in cattle, 



Socalled internal-hernia will lead to intestinal strangula- 

 tion, either from the start or later on. Diaphragmatic hernia 

 occurs particularly in the horse, more rarely in cattle and dogs. 

 It is either congenital or formed during extrauterine life, the 

 diaphragm rupturing in consequence of too great, sudden intra- 

 abdominal pressure, or the accident may occasionally be due 

 to dilatation of the stomach or to bloating. Such ruptures are 

 most common in horses which have to jump (hence they are 

 most frequently found in army horses). Displacement of the 

 intestines into the foramen of Winslow occurs exclusively in 

 the horse and the intestine then gets between the layers of the 

 great omentum (enterocele omentalis). (What Lucet & Bru 

 have described as an enterocele omentalis in cattle, was, accord- 

 ing to Matliis, only a strangulation into a tear of the omentum.) 



Tncareeration of external hernia, which is a surgical lesion, leads to the same 

 local symptoms and to the same clinical picture as internal strangulation. 



Among the enumerated causative factors are some (incar- 

 ceration in narrow clefts) which are able to cause strangula- 

 tion at once, but additional predisposing causes are, as a rule, 

 necessary to bring this condition about. A slight filling of 

 intestines enables loops to slip into a preformed opening: 

 in this condition the intestines can also easily change their posi- 

 tion, and openings usually covered by the large intestine (fora- 

 men of Winslow, tears in the lower portion of the diaphragm) 

 can now become accessible to the small intestines. Active per- 

 istalsis, whether it be due to external or internal cooling, ca- 

 tarrhal affections, embolism, etc., strong action of the abdominal 

 press (pulling of a great weight, galloping, jumping, walking 

 uphill, efforts, rolling, falls, being run over), favor the displace- 



