TUMOURS IN THE RECTUM AND ANUS. 613 



horses, particularly those of a grey colour, suffer most from melano- 

 sarcomata and melano-carcinomata. Various tumours are also 

 found in the rectum. Kitt saw many cases of mucoid polypi of 

 which several sloughed away, and on examination revealed the 

 presence of Lieberkuhn's glands. Kitt therefore regarded them as 

 oedematous folds of mucous membrane (plicce polyposes). He also 

 saw adenomata, adeno-carcinomata, and true carcinomata. Accord- 

 ing to his view the sarcomata originate in the lymph follicles 

 of the rectum. Scott endeavoured to remove from beneath the 

 sacral region a sarcoma which interfered with defalcation ; death 

 from septicaemia resulted. Teetz saw cysts and pedunculated polypi 

 in horses, Carougeau collections of varicose veins in dogs. 



Symptoms and course. Warts on the anal margin, and tumours 

 near the anus and close below the skin may be directly seen and 

 felt, but the veterinary surgeon is seldom called in until stenosis 

 or displacement of the rectum or anus interferes with defalcation. 

 Tumours in the posterior portion of the rectum sometimes protrude 

 during defalcation, and occasionally cause prolapsus ani. When 

 further forward, they are either accidentally discovered in examining 

 the rectum, or the continuous and gradually increasing difficulty in 

 defalcation draws attention to them. 



Manual examination determines their size, form, and position ; 

 sometimes the rectal or vaginal speculum is useful. 



Inflammatory swelling of the anal glands, common in dogs, may 

 be mistaken for tumour formation, though the local pain sufficiently 

 indicates its nature. Rectal and anal tumours, especially when 

 malignant, are often accompanied by secondary growths and swelling 

 of the lymph glands in the abdomen. 



Prognosis depends chiefly on the difficulty of extirpating the 

 cyst or tumour. Not only must the nature of the new growth, and 

 its position and size, be borne in view, but the question whether 

 secondary growths or infection of lymph glands has occurred must 

 be considered. Tumours near the anus may easily be removed if 

 not adherent to the mucous membrane of the rectum, a point which 

 can at once be settled by introducing the finger or hand. Pedun- 

 culated tumours within the rectum offer no difficulty in removal, 

 but those with broad bases are often impossible to extirpate. 



Treatment. Warts and other benign growths originating in the skin 

 are simply removed with knife or scissors. Those growing from the 

 subcutis or paraproctal connective tissue, if only small and not attached 

 to the mucous membrane of the rectum, are treated in the same way. 

 After incising the skin with the usual precautions, the tumour is 



