390 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICLNE AND SURGERY 



introducing it into human practice, and to the French velerinarians 

 that of transplanting the same into veterinary practice. For- 

 merly the actual cautery was the instrument employed for the 

 removal of the parts obstructing reduction ; but in our own day 

 this has been thrown aside for the scalpel, an instrument quite aa 

 effective, while the simple act of cutting with a knife gives so 

 jnuch less j)ain than cutting or dividing with the actual cautery. 

 In general, it is considered necessary to cast the horse for the ope- 

 ration ; but Mr. Gregory, V. S., did not cast his patient, but 

 merely put on a side-line, and had one leg held up and the tail 

 kept on one side; and, most assuredly, the standing position of 

 the patient is one which, in such an operation, oifers no mean 

 advantages to the operator, provided he can avail himself of it 

 without any personal danger. A great jDreservation against re- 

 fractoriness in an operation of the kind, at the moment when any 

 pain is felt, is a twitch, well put on, and well and timely turned. 

 The horse secured, with his tail turned out of the way, an incision, 

 forming a circle, is to be carried around the protruding mass, at 

 sufficient distance from the constricted part of the neck of the 

 protrusion to leave behind it such parts as are distended from 

 tumefaction or infiltration, whose removal will render the retrac- 

 tion of the gut an easy and natural eifoKt. In making incision, 

 it may be advisable to take up and tie with a silk ligature any 

 vessel met with of size enough to issue a current of ])lood, though 

 eometimes no such precaution is required. In the case mentioned 

 }y Mr. Gregory, not more than a quart of blood was lost. The 

 •Qcision ought to be made of sufficient depth to penetrate coc;i- 

 pletely through the substance of the mucous membrane, howeviir 

 morbidly thickened that may be, without, however, running a 

 risk of wounding the muscular coat beneath it, the object being 

 to dissect the former away and strip it off the latter, so as to lessen 

 the bulk of the mass to that degree that return ))ecomes a volun- 

 tary and facile action of the animal himself. So soon, however 

 as this denudation has been carried near to the inverted anus^ 

 care must be taken not to dissect or otherwise injure the sphincter 

 of that part, lest Ave leave the horse with an imperfection in closing 

 an outlet of so important a function. A soft or mash diet should, 

 for a few weeks, succeed the operation, with abstinence from hay, 

 which, from its fibrous, prickly nature, must be particularly offen- 

 •ive to thf denuded gut. Occasional emollient clysters are also 



