1 66 THE FARM DOCTOR. 



Straining, running, or jumping. The swelling is very manifest, 

 and when handled its contents arc found to move on each 

 other, to gurgle and to pass back in a mass when pressed. 



Treatment is often needless, the sac becoming effaced with 

 growth. If not, make a soft pad for the navel and attach it to 

 elastic bands passing round the body and fixed in their turn to 

 others extending back from a collar round the neck. Or in 

 slight cases blister the sac severely and repeatedly ; or apply 

 wooden clamps over the skin close up to the belly, having first 

 perfectly returned the protrusion, and let them be worn until 

 they drop off. 



Inguinal Hernia occurs in the male quadruped of any age, 

 as the sac containing the testicle remains continuous with the 

 abdomen throughout life. It is rare but by no means unknown 

 in the castrated animal. It may exist without any other 

 symptom than an unnatural swelling of the scrotum, the contents 

 movable on themselves, the thickening extending up to the 

 abdomen, and the whole disappearing suddenly and in a mass 

 when pressed. Or these signs may be associated with the 

 violent and continuous colicky pains of obstruction. In all 

 cases of colic in entire males the possibility of hernia should be 

 borne in mind and an examination made. 



Treatment is very varied, in difficult cases requiring ana- 

 tomical knowledge and attention to many minutiae which cannot 

 be given here. Yet in many cases the hernia may be returned 

 by simple pressure with the hand, with or without the other 

 hand inserted into the last gut and carried down to the internal 

 inguinal ring. If the patient is thrown on his back with his 

 hind parts well raised the return will be greatly facilitated. In 

 pigs and dogs castration should be resorted to, the gut being 

 first returned and held back by pressing upon the canal in front 

 of the testicle, and finally the wound in the skin sewed up. 

 For particulars of treatment of the various forms of inguinal 

 hernia see the author's larger work. 



