VOi. LVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 2^5 



XVIII. Of an Uncommon Large Hernia. By Dr. George Carlisle, p. 133. 



John Hallowday, an out pensioner of Chelsea, aged near 80, having entered 

 very young into the army, and undergone several hardships in the campaigns 

 under the Duke of Marlborough, on his return to England from Flanders, at 

 the conclusion of the war, first perceived a small tumour in the right side of the 

 scrotum and groin. This he carefully concealed, to avoid the scoffs of his com- 

 panions, and least it might be the occasion of his discharge, which he wanted to 

 avoid ; as he found no other inconvenience from it, but what its bulk occasioned, 

 nor ever had pain, vomiting, obstructions to stools, or any other symptoms of a 

 strangulated hernia. From that time, however, it continued to increase in bulk; 

 and from that, and its weight, grew daily more inconvenient to him, insomuch, 

 that about the year 1725, being unable to go through the duty of a soldier, he 

 was admitted to the out-pension of Chelsea hospital. Its size was then such, 

 that he was obliged to have a particular bag made in the forepart of his breeches, 

 to enable him to carry about its weight, and always wore a leather apron to con- 

 ceal its figure. For 6 or 7 years before his death, the weight and bulk of the 

 hernia had made such an alteration, in the outward appearance of the parts about 

 the scrotum, that the penis was entirely buried in the tumour; a small oval open- 

 ing only was left, out of which the urine was discharged: this opening was some- 

 times excoriated, from the acrimony of the urine, as the penis could not be ex- 

 tracted to throw it off, nor the glans be made to appear by any endeavours. A 

 year or two before his death, after a cold, and fretting the part by too much 

 walking, the urine had brought on a considerable inflammation, which mortified 

 to a large extent, one considerable eschar, formed on the anterior and most de- 

 pending part of the bag, one less on the right side where it touched the thigh, 

 and a third behind; yet all cast off and healed kindly, by the help of the bark 

 warm dressings, &c. Except from this accident, in the latter years of his life 

 he was not subject to any other complaints than are common at his years; such 

 as dimness of sight, catarrhous coughs, shortness of breath on motion, swellings 

 of his legs occasionally; and he wore off at last by a gentle decay, having all 

 along as good an appejite, and digestion, as could be expected at his time of life; 

 regular discharges, both by stool and urine; very rarely vomitings, except from 

 overloading his stomach ; purgatives, and every other medicine, operated as 

 regularly on him as on any other person. He was a well made man, rather 

 above the middle size; was as corpulent, and had as much strength, as most of 

 his years, until within a very little time of his death. 



The large hernial bag Dr. C. had measured as exactly as he could, about a 

 year before his death; and found its length, from the os pubis to the most de- 

 pending point, 15 inches; its greatest breadth, while it lay supported by the 

 thighs, 17-i- inches; and its greatest circumference 34 inches; but in the body 



