DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 101 



In the mare the hard stone ma}^ be touched by the fino^er introduced 

 through the short urethra. 



Treatment of stone in the Vladder. — The treatment of stone in the 

 bladder consists in the removal of the offending body. In the mare 

 this is easily effected with the lithotomy forceps. These are slightly 

 warmed and oiled, and carried forward along the floor of the passage 

 of the vulva for 4 inches, when the orifice of the urethra will be felt 

 exactly in the median line. Through this the forceps are gradually 

 pushed with gentle oscillating movement until they enter the bladder 

 and strike against the hard surface of the stone. The stone is now 

 grasped between the blades, care being taken to include no loose fold 

 of the mucous membrane, and it is gradually withdrawn with the same 

 careful oscillating motions as before. Facility and safety in seizing 

 the stone will be greatly favored by having the bladder half full of 

 liquid, and if necessarj'' one oiled hand may be introduced into the rec- 

 tum or vagina to assist. The resulting irritation may be treated by 

 an injection of laudanum, 1 ounce in a pint of tepid water. 



The removal of the stone in the horse is a much more difficult pro- 

 ceeding. It consists in cutting into the urethra just beneath the anus 

 and introducing the lithotomy forceps from this forward into the blad- 

 der, as in the mare. It is needful to distend the urethra with tepid 

 water or to insert a sound or catheter to furnish a guide upon which 

 the incision may be made, and in case of a large stone it may be need- 

 ful to enlarge the j)assage b}^ cutting in a direction upward and out- 

 ward with a probe-pointed knife, the back of which is slid along in 

 the groove of a director until it enters the bladder. 



The horse may be operated upon in the standing position, being 

 simpl}' pressed against a wall by a pole passed from before backward 

 along the other side of the bod}'. The tepid water is injected into the 

 end of the penis until it is felt to fluctuate under the pressure of the 

 finger, in the median line over the bone just beneath the anus. The 

 incision is then made into the center of the fluctuating canal, and from 

 above downward. When a sound or catheter is used as a guide it is 

 inserted through the penis until it can be felt tlirough the skin at the 

 point where the incision is to be made beneath the anus. The skin is 

 then rendered tense by the thumb and fingers of the left hand press- 

 ing on the two sides of the sound, while the right hand, armed with a 

 scalpel, cuts downward onto the catheter. This vertical incision into 

 the canal should escape wounding any important blood vessel. It is 

 in making the obliquely lateral incision in the subsequent dilatation 

 of the urethra and neck of the bladder that such danger is to be 

 apprehended. 



If the stone is too large to be extracted through the urethra it may 

 be broken down with the lithotrite and extracted piecemeal with the 



