4 i8 THE HUMAN SPECIES . 



2. Surgical Diseases. 



Staphylococci and streptococci play the same part in surgery 

 as they do in internal medicine; and both in man and ani- 

 mals cause inflammation, suppuration and blood changes. M, 

 Schmidt 1 has recorded an interesting autopsy on a Nasua 

 solitaria, which died of pyaemia following injury; there were 

 the same changes in the pleura, lungs, heart, kidneys and liver 

 as are found in similar cases in man. 



Contusions, in man and animals alike, usually run a favour- 

 able course; contused, lacerated and incised wounds take a 

 different course according as they are infected with cocci or 

 not. Surgical skill is able to ward off the damage done by 

 the inflammation and suppuration of wounds in man. Animals 

 when not treated by man unconsciously protect themselves from 

 infection by licking the wound as far as possible. Further 

 investigations must decide whether this merely removes the 

 causes of inflammation mechanically, or whether the saliva has 

 any special healing power. If the healing process is prevented, 

 the character of the wound, such as its depth, etc., will determine 

 the sequel, which may occasionally be abscess formation, and in 

 severe cases gangrene and destruction of the soft parts, or even 

 of the bones. 



In the following section I shall follow in detail the work of 

 Moller and Frick, 2 dealing with the surgery of special organs. 



Surgery of the Digestive Canal. In dogs, cattle and horses 

 certain cystic tumours not infrequently occur under the tongue, 

 known as " Ranula," the cause of which, as in man, is obscure. 

 The treatment is the same in all cases. 



Stenosis of the gullet occurs in horses ; oesophageal diverti- 

 cula are met with in horses and cattle; foreign bodies may 

 be found in all domestic animals, and in wild animals during 

 captivity. The importance of an abdominal wound varies, as 

 in man, according as merely the body-wall or the contained 

 viscera are damaged. If the latter, experience with animals 

 has shown that wounds of the intestine are less dangerous than 

 those of the stomach and liver. Ruminants (sheep and cattle) 



1 Zoolog. Klinik, i., 2, p. 260. 



2 Moller und Frick, Lehrbuch der Spcziellen Chirurgie fur Tierarzte, 3rd. ed. 

 Stuttgart, Enke, 1900. 



