98 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY. 



pulled through a hole in a cloth which has been carefully 

 soaked in warm antiseptic and packed around with antiseptic 

 lint or wadding. The contents of the bowel are forced back 

 by pressure with the fingers and thumb for about 6 inches 

 above and below the diseased part and clamped. Special 

 instruments are designed for the purpose; they can be im- 

 provised by fixing pieces of rubber tubing around the gut, cr 

 (Dr Maunsell's suggestion) by safety pins padded with sponge 

 or wadding. 



The branches of the mesenteric artery supplying the region 

 to be excised are taken up with artery forceps and ligatured, 

 the bowel being cut through with scissors held at right angles 

 to its lumen. The lumen is then swabbed out as far as the 



Fig. .54. 

 Murphy's button. 



clamps with wadding soaked in some fluid antiseptic. The 

 two serous surfaces are brought into contact by interrupted 

 sutures of Lembert's pattern inserted about a fifth of an inch 

 from the edge and a sixth or an eighth of an inch apart, par- 

 ticular care being taken not to penetrate the mucous coat of 

 the bowel. A very fine round needle and silk No. O or OO 

 should be used. 



Of the various mechanical devices for facilitating the anasto- 

 mosis of the divided ends of the intestine after enterectom)^, 

 the metallic button invented by Murphy of Chicago is probably 

 the one which has attracted the most notice amongst surgeons 

 during the past few years. The advantages claimed by Dr 

 Murphy are that : (i) the button dispenses with the need of 

 sutures ; (2) the possibility of non-apposition is prevented ; 



