402 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 



''to operate upon it^ after the method of Mr. Simonds. All 

 appeared to be going on well for a fortnight, at the end of 

 which time the lax suture sloughed away, and the intestine 

 came down as before. I operated upon it again in the same 

 manner, and again unsuccessfully. I then despaired of 

 effecting a cure, and was upon the point of recommending 

 my patient to be destroyed, when upon turning over the 

 papers of the XlVth volume of 'The Veterinarian,' my eye 

 lighted upon the paper of Mr. Tombs, iu which he recom- 

 mends the insertion of skewers through the integument, and 

 the application of a ligature over them ; which method I 

 immediately adopted, and am happy to say with complete 

 success/' — ' Veterinarian,' vol. XVII., pp. 19-20. 



In the same volume of 'The Veterinarian,^ p. 120, Mr. 

 John Scott, V.S., Kildare, writes, "I operated successfully on a 

 thorough- bred filly, in whom an umbilical hernia had existed 

 from birth. It was as large as described by Mr. Holmes 

 last month, and was similarly situated. Mr. Tombs' opera- 

 tion succeeded admirably, for I was enabled to twist off the 

 sloughing parts in fifteen days ; indeed, that might have 

 been done sooner, and the cure accomplished in the same 

 time as in Mr. Tombs' case. 



Firing and Blistering have found an advocate in Mr. 

 Horsburgh, V.S., Castleton, N.B. His case, from which I 

 take the following account, is contained in ' The Vete- 

 rinarian ' for 1838. 



In July, 1835, a grey horse, the property of Mr. Laing, farmer, of 

 Pardivine, in breaking out of a park, staked himself on the fence, and 

 was with some difficulty got off. He was much hurt ; fever took place 

 on the third day : on the fourth Mr. Horsburgh was sent for. The 

 abdomen and chest were much swollen. The fever was reduced by 

 venesection and purges, and from the swelling, a few days after, fluid was 

 let out by puncturation. The general tumefaction disappeared, but left 

 a swelling in the left iliac region. Mr. Horsburgh was in doubt whether it 

 was hernia or abscess. He thought the latter, and punctured it. Bloody 

 fluid escaping, he thought he was right, and therefore enlarged the 

 opening a little, when intestine protruded. The opening was imme- 

 diately closed with pin and tow. No ill consequences resulted ; the 

 wound healed, the swelling subsided, and nothing remained but the 



