1056 Veterinary Obstetrics 



amount. After about two weeks the sutures were removed, and 

 the animal was discharged, completely cured. 



In other cases, where the hernia was not .so large, we have 

 operated by cutting a hole into the hernial sac, through which 

 an index finger is pa.ssed in order to constitute a guide and insur- 

 ance against the wounding of the vi.scera. A heavy needle, armed 

 with a strong suture, is then inserted into the skin at a distance 

 of two or more inches to the right or left of the margin of the 

 hernial ring, and carefully guided through the abdominal mus- 

 cles of the one side, and across the hernial ring, to penetrate the 

 abdominal muscles on the other side of the ring, and through the 

 skin, to emerge some di.stance from the hernial ring. The needle 

 is then reversed, and thence returned at a distance of about y^ 

 inch from the point of beginning, where the two ends are tied as 

 in the preceding case. Other sutures are added until the ring is 

 completely closed, as determined by digital examination. 



In small umbilic hernise a modification of this suture has been 

 used by us, with very satisfactory results. The animal is secured 

 upon its back, and the area is shaved and disinfected. The 

 hernial contents are returned into the abdomen, and the hernial 

 sac grasped with one hand and drawn out as far as possible. The 

 hernial sac is then firmly grasped from side to side, between the 

 thumb on one side and the fingers on the other, and the walls 

 brought tightly together. In small herniae, if as much as possi- 

 ble of the skin on either side is grasped in this manner, and the 

 two sides brought together, the operation also draws the margins 

 of the hernial ring together. A needle armed with a heavy silk 

 suture is inserted immediately against the thumb and finger, be- 

 tween them and the abdominal floor, so as to avoid any danger 

 of wounding the intestine, and is forced through to the opposite 

 side as shown in Fig. 151 A. Grasping the hernial sac anew, 

 and reversing the needle and inserting it about '4 inch from its 

 point of emergence, the operator carries it back to the opposite 

 side parallel to the first suture, and ties the two ends together, 

 as indicated in Fig. 151 B, so tightly as to close the hernial ring. 



A second suture is now inserted in the same way, at a point 

 about }2 inch distant from the first, and the series of sutures is 

 continued until a sufficient number have been inserted to prevent 

 the escape of the hernial contents between or beyond the sutures. 

 Care is to be taken that at either end the sutures extend beyond 



