THE CORDS. C R GUT-TIE. 



Apparently difficult and dangerous, but really sincple, easy to be per- 

 formed, and generally effectual. 



It will be evident that this operation should be performed, the 

 side line being used, and the beast remaining standing close to a 

 wall, and fastened to it as well as circumstances will permit. The 

 incision should be made on the left side, and taking, as the centre of 

 it, the spot at which the flank is generally punctured in cases of 

 hoove, and where a small portion of the jejunum, and that which is 

 the most likely to be entangled, is protruded over the rumen, and 

 floats by itself at the extremity of tha mesentery. It should be a 

 vertical incision, or a little oblique, in a direction from behind for- 

 ward. A small opening should first be made, through the integu- 

 ment and muscle, avoiding, if possible, the peritoneum. Into this 

 the first and second fingers of the left hand should be introduced, 

 and thus, by means of a probe-pointed bistoury, guarded and guided 

 by these fingers, the wound may be enlarged so as to permit the 

 introduction of the hand of the operator. There will probably be a 

 considerable gush of blood when the external oblique is first divided, 

 but that will speedily cease by the retraction of the artery. 



The peritoneum should next be divided, if it has not been so 

 already, and the hand of the surgeon, the arm having been bared 

 and well oiled, should be introduced into the wound ; the epiploon 

 or cawl gently torn ; and the hand passed among the intestines in a 

 direction upward and backward, or a little behind the kidneys. 'J'he 

 operator will soon feel the strangulated part, and the cord by which 

 it is suspended or tied, and usually attached to some part of the 

 pelvis. Having satisfied himself with regard to the situation of the 

 cord, he will withdraw his hand, and, taking another shorter and 

 more curved and probe-pointed bistoury, and having it in the hollow 

 of his hand, and guarding the cutting edge with his finger and 

 thumb, he will introduce it into the abdomen, find out the cord again, 

 and cautiously divide it. The hand will once more be removed, in 

 order to get rid of the bistoury, and then re-introduced to ascertain 

 whether the whole of the strangulated part has been liberated, which 

 is easily effected by tracing all the neighboring circumvolutions and 

 passing them through the hand. 



The operator being satisfied as to the state of the bowels, brino-s 

 the edges of the wound together, and confines them by a sufficient 

 number of stitches, including the peritoneum, muscle, and integu- 

 ment, in the same stitch. A pledget of tow is placed over the wound, 

 and a broad bandage passed tigTitly several times round the belly, 

 which must not be removed during the first six or eight days. 



The majority of cattle thus operated upon are saved, and the 

 wound is usually healed in somewhat less than a month. It may, 

 however, be supposed that after the extensive opening into the abdo- 

 minal e5.vity, and this laceration of the cawl, and groping and cutting 



