242 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OB" 



"On the 17tli of Sept., 1850, 1 was called to the farm of 

 Ashogle, to see a cow which had been injured by the horns of 

 another ; but as I had left home that afternoon for a distance, 

 and did not return until late next day, I did not see the cow 

 until the 19th. I found her with a hernial tumor protruding 

 from the right iliac, which remained covered within the skin, 

 so large that a bushel measure would not have contained it. 

 She ^as evidently in much pain while standing, and would 

 stand only a very short time. I was told that she had eaten a 

 good deal since the accident, and, as a stoppage of the dung 

 was observed, they had given her a pound of epsom salts. 

 Her abdomen was enormously distended, notwithstanding the 

 largeness of the hernial tumor. The non-escape of the faeces 

 was proof positive, under the circumstances, of the hernia being 

 strangulated. 



"I had her laid on the left side, as carefully as possible, and, 

 after every attempt to return the hernia by external manipula* 

 lion had failed, I cut into the sac, and attempted to knead in, 

 inch by inch, the gorged intestines ; but in this also I failed. 

 The hernial opening was large enough to admit three of my 

 fingers, so that it was not want of room in that, but in the ab- 

 dominal cavity, which was so fully distended by the intestines 

 forming the hernia, that caused the difficulty. I had her laid 

 upon her back, with her hind legs drawn up, so as to throw the 

 contents of the abdomen as much as possible upon the dia- 

 phragm. Even then, however, I could not succeed ; I therefore 

 with a sharp-pointed scalpel cut into the intestine, and emptied 

 it entirely of its semi-fluid contents, stitched up the wound, 

 and washed it carefully, and so ultimately accomplished the 

 reduction. With a strong cord I closed the hernial opening, 

 as well as the one I had made through the skin, nine inches 

 farther up ; I then turned her on her left side, and in a few 

 minutes the faeces began to escape by their proper channel. 

 I gave linseed oil twenty ounces, and tincture of opium one 

 ounce. Next morning I found her up, stepping through the 

 shed, inclined to eat, her bowels acting freely. I had her 

 tightly bandaged, to support the abdomen, and made an open- 



