764 



HIBERNATION. 



The symptoms of umbilical hernia are 

 easily understood by referring to those points 

 in which it differs from ruptures situated else- 

 where. In the infant the tumour appears long 

 and thin, according to the quantity of viscera 

 protruded through the aperture of the navel, and 

 projects downwards on the belly : its coverings 

 are almost transparent. In the more adult 

 subject, if the patient is thin the tumour is of 

 a pyriform figure, and when permitted to in- 

 crease without restraint becomes very large 

 and hangs pendulous towards the pubes. If 

 he is fat it may form a less circumscribed 

 swelling, broad and flat, apparently extending 

 in every direction round the umbilical aperture. 

 The sensation imparted to the finger is of a 

 soft and doughy tumour slightly moveable 

 under the skin, but sometimes in consequence 

 of the presence of intestine in the rupture it 

 may possess some elasticity. Occasionally, 

 after an omental hernia has remained for years 

 without producing much inconvenience, it sud- 

 denly enlarges towards the centre and assumes 

 a conical chape, the apex being soft and elastic, 

 the base hard and more solid : in this case 

 there has probably been a fresh protrusion of 

 intestine which has burst through the omentum 

 and requires instant attention, as so circum- 

 stanced it is extremely liable to fall into a state 

 of strangulation. The collateral symptoms, 

 such as nausea, flatulence, colicky pains, &c., 

 are more severe and more frequent in umbilical 

 than in any other form of hernia, a circum- 

 stance that has often given rise to the idea that 

 the stomach formed some part of the protrusion, 

 but perhaps it is unnecessary to resort to such 

 a supposition, for probably the herniae of the 

 linea alba that have been described as con- 

 taining part of the displaced stomach were in 

 no wise different from ordinary umbilical 

 ruptures as to their contents, for the omentum 

 being protruded will be sufficient to account 

 for every aggravation of symptom. 



When the hernia is strangulated, it is said 

 that the symptoms are less severe and less 

 urgent than in other species of ruptures, a cir- 

 cumstance that has also been accounted for 

 from its so often containing omentum alone. 

 Sir A. Cooper states that more cases of stran- 

 gulation occur in the seasons when green vege- 

 tables are plenty than in others, which would 

 seem to favour the idea of its being often caused 

 by the use of flatulent or indigestible sub- 

 stances. But (except with reference to pre- 

 vention) it is of little consequence how it may 

 be caused, or whether its progress is rapid or 

 not. When once formed, it must be reduced ; 

 and it runs its course with sufficient rapidity to 

 render it extremely alarming. It has destroyed 

 a patient in less than eighteen hours, and 

 although such severity is not generally to be 

 expected, yet in this or in any other kind of 

 hernia the smallest unnecessary delay can 

 never be justified. 



" Sometimes a small mass of indurated fat, 

 situated between the peritoneum and its union 

 with the aponeurosis of the abdominal muscles, 

 makes its way insensibly through the separated 

 fibres of the linea alba, and is at last elevated 



externally in form of a tumour which seems o 

 have all the characters of an omental hernia. 

 The existence of this species of tumour through 

 the linea alba is not only a certain fact and de- 

 monstrated by several observations made on the 

 dead body by Morgagni, by Klinkosch and 

 several others, but it is also proved that it 

 makes its appearance in other parts of the 

 linea alba besides that to which the umbilical 

 vein corresponds internally. It may occur that 

 a person in whom a similar small tumour has 

 existed for a long time in the course of the 

 linea alba may be attacked from a quite diffe- 

 rent cause by violent colic, with nausea, incli- 

 nation to vomit, and interruption to the alvine 

 excretions. The surgeon, in similar circum- 

 stances, is easily led into error," (and Scarpa 

 committed the mistake himself,) " presuming 

 that the tumour is a true incarcerated hernia of 

 the linea alba, subjecting the patient to an ope- 

 ration which has no connexion with the cause 

 of the disease." Never having seen any similar 

 tumour, I have copied the above passage from 

 Scarpa : they are probably of the same nature 

 with those described by Mr. Colles as occa- 

 sionally presenting at the crural ring. The 

 resemblance must be strikingly obvious to 

 every reader. 



( William Henry Porter.) 



HIBERNATION ; etym. hiberno, to win- 

 ter, to pass the winter; syn. lethargy ; errone- 

 ously, torpor; Fr. sommeil hivernal ; Germ. 

 Winterschlaf'<md Sommerschlaf ; a term chiefly 

 applied to express that condition in which cer- 

 tain animals pass the winter season. 



How often have I been struck with admira- 

 tion in observing how variously the Creator has 

 provided for certain of the insectivorous tribes, 

 the swallow and the bat, for example, against 

 the period when the sources of their daily food 

 are cut off, when spring and summer yield to 

 autumn and winter, and insects disappear ! The 

 first emigrates to a more genial climate where 

 its nutriment still abounds ; the second sinks 

 into a deep sleep, in which food is unnecessary, 

 and which continues through the dreary season 

 of cold and famine. 



It has not hitherto been distinctly ascertained 

 to what extent the state of hibernation prevails 

 in the animal kingdom ; the bat, the hedgehog, 

 and the dormouse, are the genera which present 

 us with the most marked examples of this sin- 

 gular physiological condition in this country ; 

 to these the elegant authoress of " Sketches of 

 Natural History " has added the water-rat and 

 the wood-mouse, observing of the former 



" And when cold winter comes and the water- 

 plants die, 



And his little brooks yield him no longer supply, 



Down into his burrow he cozily creeps, 



And quietly through the long winter-time sleeps." 



But before we proceed to discuss this ques- 

 tion of natural history, we must consider that 

 of the physiology of hibernation. 



There is, in my opinion, an ultimate law of 

 animal existence, which seems to regulate the 

 different forms in which the different classes of 

 animals present themselves. The quantity of 



