ENTEEITIS. 3.39 



Hernia may be present and the protruding bowel may not 

 be inflamed. This is easy to determine. The soft state of the 

 hernia, and the ready disappearance of the bowel from steady, 

 gentle pressure of the hand, are demonstrative proofs that the 

 intestine is not strangulated,* 



Y. — When strangulation of the bowel exists, it should, 

 if possible, be relieved, otherwise the patient will die. Assum- 

 ing, then, that it does exist, either within the scrotum or at 

 the navel, and that its reduction is imperative, the operator 

 should proceed as follows : — 1st, while the patient is laid upon 

 the straw hobble his limbs, and turn the animal upon his 

 back, and by the aid of assistants, and bundles of straw 

 properly placed against the sides, keep him there ; next elevate 

 the hind quarters of the horse by lifting them up, and by 

 placing small compact trusses of straw beneath ; then flex the 

 hind limbs, and if possible, maintain them in that position ; 

 then grasp the protruding skin firmly and steadily, and try if 

 gentle manipulation upon the bowel will return it. Should 

 this method fail, the operator must strip off his coat and bare 

 his arms, and after lubricating them well with olive oil, and 

 emptying the rectum of its contents, he should again pass 

 one hand and arm far within the gut, while with the other he 

 manipulates upon the bowel externally, and thus by operating 

 within and without at the same time, he may succeed better 

 than by the first process. Sometimes, however, the bowel is 

 hard and unyielding, and to use greater force might rupture 

 it ; in which case the patient should be rendered insensible, 

 either with chloroform or by bleeding until faintness super- 

 venes. If the animal be strong, its condition high, the pain 



* I take it for granted, if the animal be a stallion, that the observer will 

 know the difference between the testicle and a protrusion of the bowel. 



