124 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



mals in the same way as taught him by his father for forty-five 

 years, and has never had one case among those he has operated 

 upon, although he has been called to several which had been 

 operated upon by other persons. 



** The calf which I have alluded to was not castrated by him, 

 nor was the two-year-old steer, the subject of this communica- 

 tion, by either of us, which tends to prove that castration has to 

 do with its production, these cases having occurred in our dis- 

 trict. I had, until recently, supposed that the spermatic artery, 

 on being drawn at until it ruptures, in the operation of castra- 

 tion, might recede into the abdomen, and hanging loose, after- 

 wards strangulate the intestines by getting around them, but I 

 feel convinced this is not the cause." 



The following, which lately appeared in the Edinburgh 

 Veterinary Review, is offered for the reader's instruction ; it 

 is a translation from Gierer, by Mr. Gamgee. 



" ON THE INTERNAL RUPTURES IN OXEN. 



_" Gierer alludes to the fact, that all authors agree as to the 

 nature of the internal or peritoneal ruptures, termed * ueber- 

 wurf:' by the Germans — ' gut-tie ' by the English. There 

 is a separation of the atrophied spermatic cord from the sides 

 of the pelvis, and, under peculiar circumstances, the perito- 

 neum is lacerated, a portion of intestine slips downwards 

 and backwards, and the cord is entwined round it, so as to con- 

 strict it, obi^truct the passage of excrement, and inflamatiori, 

 with other consequences, result. Gierer especially describes 

 his method of discovering the seat of the constriction, and his 

 plan of operating. He says that it is not always so easy to 

 find the spermatic cord, and to discover precisely which intes- 

 tine is incarcerated. Most cases occur in oxen from a year 

 and a half to four years old. When symptoms of colic, and 

 no discharge of faeces induce him to suspect * gut-tie,* he exam- 

 ines per rectum^ and, by careful manipulation, can always 

 detect the spermatic cord and imprisoned intestine. Gierer 

 has never seen this strangulation relieved spontaneously; and 

 there are two methods of cure to adopt, — the one palliative 



