THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES 177 



not infrequently discovers one of these bodies, on post- 

 mortem, to have been the cause of death. 



One must not necessarily expect to see needles which 

 have been swallowed come out in any one particular spot, 

 as their wandering habits are, when once inside the body 

 of a dog or a cat, as great as they are in that of the human 

 individual. 



The Operation, technically known as g-astrotomy, is per- 



Fig. 127. — Site of Incision in the Abdominal Wall, Ten Days after 

 Operation, through which a Rubber Ball was removed from the 

 Stomach. 



formed as follows : The patient is prepared and laparotomy 

 performed as alread)' described (see p. 158), the site of in- 

 cision being the median line, from 2 to 3 inches below the 

 cartilage of the sternum. 



The stomach is drawn up outside the abdominal wall as 

 far as possible, resting on a piece of sterilized mackintosh 

 or jaconet (which has been slit to receive and protect it), 

 and carefully packed and surrounded with lint or boiled 



12 



