HERNIA, OR R ..'PTURE. 363 



get of fine tow mus* be placed over the incision, and upon that an- 

 other pledget, smeared with simple ointment. This must be confined 

 by a bandage fire or six inches wider than the wound, and which 

 must be passed twice or thrice found the body, firmly sewed, and, if 

 possible, not removed for ten days. At the expiration of that period, 

 the edges will be found to have adhered along the greater part of the 

 incision, the stitches may be withdrawn, and what remains unhealed 

 may be treated as a common wound. Should much oedematous 

 swelling appear on either side of the bandage, the parts should be 

 well fomented with warm water, or, if requisite, lightly scarified. 

 The beast should be kept on rather short allowance, the food consist- 

 ing chiefly of mashes, with a little hay or green meat ; and a dose or 

 two of physic should be given during the progress of the cure. 



If the horn should have broken the skin, as well as lacerated the 

 muscular part beneath, and the intestine protrudes, it must be 

 cleared from any dirt or extraneous matter about it, then carefully 

 returned, and the wound closed and the bandage applied as already 

 directed. 



The author has not only seen a considerable portion of bowel pro- 

 truding, but the bowel itself torn. Even then he has not despaired, 

 for the healing power in these animals is such as the human surgeon 

 would scarcely deem possible. The rent of the intestine may be 

 closed by a stitch or two, with well-founded hope of the edges 

 uniting, and the intestinal cana becoming perfect and whole. 



Calves are occasionally dropped with ruptures. They principally 

 occur along the middle line of the belly, and not far from the navel. 

 It is usually a protrusion of a portion of the omentum or caul ; but 

 in a few instances one or two small convolutions of the intestines 

 have been involved. The principal danger is, that the rumen, when 

 unnaturally distended by food or gas, may press upon and injure the 

 portion of caul or intestine immediately within the abdomen, and 

 turning over the edge of the opening. Any serious operation with a 

 view to the reduction of the rupture would scarcely be advisable, 

 but it would be prudent to fatten and dispose of the animal as soon 

 as convenient. 



But calves are sometimes born with rupture in the groin. The 

 opening through which the testicle afterward descends into the bag 

 is lax, and yields to slight pressure, and in the motions of the foetus 

 in the womb, a small convolution of the intestine slips down. This 

 sometimes continues of nearly its original size for several months ; in 

 some cases it is gradually retracted, and disappears ; in others, it 

 increases in volume with greater or less rapidity. A remedy is often 

 to be found for this as soon as the testicles descend into the bag ; 

 and at which time, if the hernia will ever be serious, it begins to 

 increase, or to be strangulated — the beast should be castrated. 



After the aninaal is thrown and properly confined, the protruded 



