532 TREATMENT OF UMBILICAL HERNIA. 



of the colon, and as growth advances the abdomen enlarges, with 

 increasing tension of the mesentery, parietal peritoneum, and skin, 

 by which the hernia is gradually withdrawn into the peritoneal cavity. 

 Spontaneous reduction in foals and calves may thus occur during 

 the first year of life, though seldom after this age. Incarceration 

 is only exceptionally seen in animals, and then only in such as suffer 

 from tympanites, in greedy feeders, in those inclined to digestive 

 disturbances associated with flatulance, or after injury to the hernial 

 sac, or the formation of adhesions which prevent spontaneous 

 recovery. 



Treatment. The most varied applications, most of them of 

 little value, have been recommended in umbilical hernias. Amongst 

 these are local astringents and the subcutaneous injection of solution 

 of common salt. Such treatment is only followed by recovery where 

 the latter is almost a foregone conclusion, as in small ruptures in 

 young animals and particularly in herbivora. Amongst the palliatives 

 most resorted to are — 



(1) Trusses, which are, however, only of real use in cattle and 

 horses, and even then to a limited extent. A tampon of tow, smeared 

 with Venice turpentine to retain it in position, is placed on the hernia 

 and fastened by a girth passed round the body. Rolling in this 

 way cured umbilical herniae in foals in six weeks. Marbot states 

 having cured ten cases of the kind in thirty-two days by means of 

 bandages. As a substitute for the bandage, a pitch plaster may 

 be applied, or the sac painted with collodion after reducing the hernia, 

 but neither method is reliable, especially on the very elastic skin of 

 dogs, and plasters seldom remain a sufficient time in position to 

 have any permanent good effect. 



(2) Caustic and blistering substances, like sulphuric or nitric 

 acid or cantharides ointment, applied to the hernial sac, have been 

 recommended in the larger animals (horse and ox). In France nitric 

 acid was first recommended in 1848 by Dagot, and about the same 

 time it was used in Germany in common with sulphuric acid. The 

 latter is generally diluted with 3 to 5 parts of water or spirit, and 

 rubbed into the hernial sac daily for five to eight days. Concentrated 

 sulphuric or nitric acid is applied with a glass rod in the form of 

 lines. The lines must be at least f to f of an inch apart, and the acid 

 can seldom be used more than twice. Others apply the concentrated 

 sulphuric acid with a brush to the entire surface of the sac twice, 

 beginning at the periphery, and taking care that the lowest portion 

 of the sac does not receive too much. Particular care is required 

 in applying concentrated nitric acid, and it should never be left to 



