DISEASES OF THE UEINARY ORGANS. 143 



der beyond its power of resistance and a rupture occurs, allowing the 

 urine to escape into the cavity of the abdomen. Then dullness in- 

 creases; the animal lies down most of his time; he becomes stupid and 

 sometimes drowsy, with reddish brown congestion of the lining mem- 

 brane of the eyelids; pressure on the abdomen causes pain, flinching, 

 and perhaps groaning, and the lowest part of the belly fluctuates more 

 and more as the escaping urine accumulates in greater and greater 

 amount. If at this stage the oiled hand is introduced into the rectum 

 (last gut), the animal flinches when pressure is made downward on 

 the floor of the pelvis, and no round, distended bladder is felt. If 

 the same examination is made prior to the rupture, the rounded, 

 tense, elastic bladder is felt extending forward into the abdomen, 

 containing one or two gallons of liquid. There may be uneasy 

 shifting of the hind limbs and twisting of the tail, also frequent 

 lying down and rising, but these symptoms are exceptional. 



^Yhen the obstruction is low down between the thighs (at the S- 

 shaped flexure), the line of the pulsating urethra, from the anus 

 downward may be felt distended with liquid, and though it is seldom 

 easy to distinguish the exact seat of the stone by the hard swelling 

 of the urethra, yet there is usually tenderness at the point of obstruc- 

 tion, and from this it may be accurately located. 



T reatment. — The treatment of stone in the bladder or urethra con- 

 sists in the removal of the stone by incision and the use of forceps. 

 (PL XI, fig. 4.) AVhen the stone has been arrested at the S-shaped 

 flexure just above the scrotum, the patient being lean, the thickened 

 tender part of the penis may be sized between the fingers and thumb 

 of the left hand, while the calculus is exposed by a free incision with 

 the knife held in the right. If there is no other obstruction between 

 this point and the bladder, and if the latter has not yet ruptured, a 

 flow of urine should take place from the opening. If there is no 

 escape of liquid, a catheter or sound, one- fourth of an inch in diame- 

 ter, must be passed up through the canal (urethra) mitil it is arrested 

 by the next stone, on which a similar incision should then be made 

 to effect its extraction. In case the stone has been arrested in the por- 

 tion of the urethra which is in front of the arch of the hip bone and 

 inside the pelvis, it can only be reached by making an opening into 

 the urethra beneath the anus and over the arch of the hip bone, and 

 from this orifice exploring the urethra with fine forceps to the neck 

 of the bladder or until the stone has been reached and extracted 

 The operation requires a very accurate knowledge of the parts, owing 

 to the small size of the canal (urethra) to be opened and the great 

 thickness of erectile tissue to be cut through, while the free flow of 

 blood is blinding to the operator. A staff should always be passed up 

 through the urethra from the lower wound, if such has been made, or, 

 in case of its absence, through the whole length of the penis, that 



