160 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



Gave 



Pyroligneous acid, 3 drachms, 



Thin gruel 1 pint. 



Cold water bathings were continued. This comprises about 

 the whole of the treatment. The animal gradually returned to full 

 diet, and from exercise to work. 



Operation for Prolapsus Ani. — In the event of failing to 

 return the engorged gut by the means here recommended, and the 

 difficulty increasing, nothing remains but to operate by excision. 

 Our first business is, to secure the patient, so as to guard the 

 operator from personal injury: if the horse is of gentle disposition, 

 a side line and twitch may suffice ; but if he proves restive, and 

 seems unwilling to have the parts handled, he must be cast ; it 

 is good policy, however, not to cast a horse unless we are con- 

 vinced that it is our only resource. The instruments needed for 

 the operation are, a common scalpel, tweezers, scissors, an armed 

 needle, ligatures of saddler's silk, a bucket of water, and sponge. 

 The tail is to be turned upwards and forwards, on the rump, and 

 there held by an assistant. The operator then dissects the en- 

 gorged mucous membrane from the muscular coat of the rectum, 

 taking care not to injure the latter. 



In the course of the operation, some ramifications from the 

 rectal arteries will be divided ; the sponge, and perhaps the water, 

 may now be needed, to wash off and absorb the blood, so as to 

 enable the operator to see and take up, with the tweezers or 

 forceps, the bleeding arteries ; if they can be so taken up, they 

 are to be secured by ligature ; if any difficulty is experienced in 

 getting hold of them, pass an armed curved needle partly around 

 the bleeding vessel, including some of the mucous tissue, and thus 

 secure it. After excising the parts, wash with cold water, and 

 ascertain if any bleeding vessels remain untied ; being all secured, 

 the operation is completed. Some persons dress with some sort 

 of traumatic, viz., tincture of myrrh, &c. ; but, in a case that 

 occurred lately, we used nothing but cold water, throwing, by 

 means of a syringe, a pint into the rectum morning and evening. 

 The patient must be kept on a light, unirritating diet, and have 

 walking exercise as often as convenient. If constipation super- 

 venes, give a dose of cream of tartar and sulphur. Any unhealthy 



