INGUINAL HERNIA. 373 



them, or to each other, that is found impracticable, the 

 hernia becomes an " irreducible" one ; should there be con- 

 striction at the mouth or contracted part of the sac — which 

 in inguinal hernia is at the internal abdominal ring — to that 

 degree that the circulation is either much impeded or alto- 

 gether arrested, the hernia is said to be " strangulated/^ 



The Hernia the most frequent, as well as the most im- 

 portant, is inguinal : to which, on both these accounts, it will 

 be necessary that we should give our fullest consideration. 

 In doing this, we shall find, as we proceed, that many of our 

 observations become equally applicable to the other descrip- 

 tions of hernia : a circumstance that will enable me to cur- 

 tail my account of these minor and less important species. 



INGUINAL HERNIA. 



The rarity of this hernia in our country has afforded 

 British veterinarians but scanty opportunities for observa- 

 tion concerning it compared to those enjoyed by our Conti- 

 nental brethren, and this satisfactorily accounts for the ab- 

 sence of any work in our own language containing the 

 required information on the subject : a circumstance that 

 might be on occasions deplored were we not in possession of 

 one in another tongue which supplies all we can possibly 

 want or wish for ; from whose valuable pages I shall take the 

 liberty to transcribe herein so much as will prove really 

 practical and useful to us. I need hardly add, I allude to 

 the magnificent work of the distinguished French professor, 

 Girard.i 



The custom in France, Germany, India, Arabia, and some 

 other countries, of preserving horses entire, is the reason 



• ' A Treatise on Inguinal Hernia in the Horse, and other Monodacfcyles,' by 

 Girard, Director of the Royal Veterinary School at Alfort ; Paris, 1827. This 

 work was, in extracts, translated and commented on by me in ' The Veterinarian' 

 for 1829. I have, in this new edition of my work, the satisfaction of adding, 

 that in the year 1838 an excellent paper was read on the subject of ' Hernia,' 

 before the Veterinary Medical Association, by Professor Simonds of the Royal 

 Veterinary College. 



