OPERATION FOR HERNIA IN STALLIONS. 615 



opposite gland is raised and lowered uneasily ; perspiration drops 

 from the scrotum, the loins, and flanks ; the leg on the affected 

 side sometimes halts in walking ; in some cases it is held up, 

 and the sufferer will bite at the part. The pulse at first is 

 little disturbed, but it very soon beats rapidly, and gets hard, 

 small, and wiry, indicating intense pain ; the countenance is ex- 

 tremely anxious, breathing, panting ; the patient is not still an 

 instant, but up and down, rolling, and even screaming with 

 agony, and, later on, straining violently, as if to void faeces. 

 Examination per rectum, which should be made in every case 

 of doubt (with a little patient experience), will decide at once 

 whether it be inguinal hernia or not, simply feeling with the 

 fingers the cord passing into the ring or mouth of the inguinal 

 canal. If it is clear, the ends of one, two, or even three fingers 

 may go into the ring; if the bowel is there, the ring is found 

 choked and the bowel fixed, so that it may be taken hold of 

 and pulled (of course, to a limited extent), and the patient will 

 instantly strain with all his might. Comparison with the oppo- 

 site ring will always decide the case. 



Tliis examination is easily made while the horse is standing. 

 Nothing (unless there is a considerable length of bowel in 

 the canal — then its inferior border may be defined) can be 

 seen or felt externally in a purely inguinal case. Unless 

 relieved by operative surgery, death results in from nine to 

 twelve hours. 



Post Mortem. — Having removed the hind leg on the affected 

 side, on opening the scrotum bloody serum escapes, and the 

 testicle is inflamed. By laying open the inguinal canal, and 

 following the course of the cord, we find it much swollen, 

 highly inflamed, and infiltrated witb a sero-fibrinous effusion ; 

 and at the top of the canal, close to and just outside the abdo- 

 minal wall, is a small knuckle of purplish-black intestine, filled 

 with gas, as tight and hard as a ball. The strangulating ring 

 is simply peritoneum inclosing the cord with this bit of bowel. 

 Inguinal hernia terminates more rapidly and fatally than scrotal, 

 owing to the aperture of the ring being so small. 



Scrotal hernia may be acute or chronic. The acute is when 

 the herniated bowel has travelled down the inguinal canal into 

 the scrotum, and strangulation has quickly followed. The 

 symptoms are less acute in the early stage, slower in progress, 



