STONE, OR GRAVEL. 101 



can be felt beneath, and within it the solid oval body. It is most 

 easily recognized if the organ is half full of liquid, as then it is not 

 grasped by the contracting walls of the bladder, but may be made to 

 move from place to place in the liquid. If a pultaceous mass is 

 present it has a soft, doughy feeling, and when pressed an indentation 

 is left. 



In the mare the hard stone may be touched by the finger introduced 

 through the short urethra. 



Treatment of stone in the bladder. — The treatment of stone in the 

 bladder consists in the removal of the offending body. In the mare 

 this is easily effected with the lithotomy forceps. These are slightlj' 

 warmed and oiled, and carried forward along the floor of the passage 

 of the vulva for 4 inches, when the orifice of the urethra will be felt 

 exactly in the median line. Through this the forceps are gradually 

 pushed with gentle oscillating movement until the}'' enter the bladder 

 and strike against the hard surface of the stone. The stone is now 

 grasped between the blades, care being taken to include no loose fold 

 of the mucous membrane, and it is gradually withdrawn with the 

 same careful oscillating motions as before. Facility and safety in 

 seizing the stone will be greatly favored by having the bladder half 

 full of liquid, and if necessary one oiled hand may be introduced 

 into the rectum or vagina to assist. The resulting irritation may be 

 treated by an injection of laudanum, 1 ounce in a pint of tepid water. 



The removal of the stone in the horse is a much more difficult pro- 

 ceeding. It consists in cutting into the urethra just beneath the anus 

 and introducing the lithotomy forceps from this forward into the 

 bladder, as in the mare. It is needful to distend the urethra with 

 tepid water or to insert a sound or catheter to furnish a guide upon 

 which the incision may be made, and in case of a large stone it may 

 be needful to enlarge the passage by cutting in a direction upward 

 and outward with a probe-pointed knife, the back of which is slid 

 along in the groove of a director until it enters the bladder. 



The horse may be operated upon in the standing position, being 

 simply pressed against the wall by a pole passed from before back- 

 ward along the other side of the body. The tepid water is injected 

 into the end of the penis until it is felt to fluctuate under the pressure 

 of the finger, in the median line over the bone just beneath the anus. 

 The incision is then made into the center of the fluctuating canal, and 

 from above downward. When a sound or catheter is used as a guide 

 it is inserted through the penis until it can be felt through the skin 

 at the point where the incision is to be made beneath the anus. The 

 skin is then rendered tense by the thumb and fingers of the left hand 

 pressing on the two sides of the sound, while the right hand, armed 

 with a scalpel, cuts downward onto the catheter. This vertical in- 

 cision into the canal should escape wounding any important blood 

 Digitized by Microsoft® 



