130 DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 



of the forceps are opened and closed for the pur- 

 pose of dilating the opening; when this is accom- 

 plished and the forceps have reached the stone, 

 which is easily known by the sound of the for- 

 ceps against it, the right hand is now passed 

 either into the vagina or rectum and the stone 

 guided into the forceps, which should then be 

 closed firmly on the stone and gently withdrawn 

 with a slight rotary motion. If the stone is too 

 large it will require to be crushed. The opening 

 or urethra in the mare is much larger than in the 

 horse, and by degrees it can be dilated to a consid- 

 erable size. In one case of a mare, which was 

 troubled by deposits of the soft gravel, large quan- 

 tities of it would form in the bladder in a few 

 months. In this case I had no trouble in dilating 

 the opening large enough to admit a large table- 

 spoon, which I used to scoop out the material 

 which had accumulated; sometimes as much as 

 a pint was removed at once. The operation on the 

 horse is much more difficult. The instruments 

 needed are a catheter, a pair of spoon forceps, a 

 grooved director and a probe-pointed knife, a 

 sponge, needles and catgut. Cast the horse, and if 

 possible put it under the influence of chloroform, 

 then pass the catheter and turn the horse on its 

 back; make an incision about two inches long 

 through urethra onto the catheter, withdraw the 

 catheter, and introduce a pair of long forceps, 

 not too large (warm them and oil before using 

 them); then open and close the blades for a few 

 minutes to dilate the urethra, introduce the spoon 



