HEENIA. 397 



divided principaUy into recent or acute, and old or chronic, and 

 we find them considered as enterocele, epiplocele, and entero- 

 epiplocele, according to their contents. The name of vaginal 

 hernia has been used to denote a case in which the intestine is 

 directly engaged in the inguinal canal; and hernia of the ring, or 

 hernia in the canal, describes that in -which the viscera have en- 

 tered but a short distance into the sheath. Bubonocele signifies 

 that the intestine has entered but a very slight distance into the 

 inguinal sheath, in opposition to the oscheocele or scrotal hernia, 

 when the intestine falls quite down into the sac, and with the 

 testicles themselves, occupies the bottom of the scrotum. 



Inguinal hernias are generally accidental, but, as some authors 

 hold, are also sometimes congenital, having been found existing 

 at birth ; and in many instances they become permanent, the in- 

 testines occupying the vaginal sac without change, as a fixity. 

 Then, again, they may be intermittent, disappearing more or less 

 completely, under peculiar conditions, only to reappear under the 

 stress of new influential causes. Of course the classification of re- 

 ducible and irreducible, always holds. The classification of the 

 hernia of castration, which takes place during or after that opera^ 

 tion, is considered by some to be properly one of the forms of 

 eventration. 



A consideration of the anatomical disposition of the vaginal 

 canal, and especially of its upper ring, which presents an opening 

 communicating with the peritoneal cavity, will explain the reason 

 why inguinal hernias of the horse are more common in the staUion 

 than in the gelding. It is rare in bovines, but Lafosse has seen 

 it in sheep and in rams and although the anatomical disposition 

 of the canal in the dog render its occurrence difficult, Wolstein 

 has observed it in that animal. Cases are rare in females, but 

 Girard, Jr., has seen it in mares, Rychner in cows, and Heriag, 

 Hertvng and Goubaux in bitches. 



Recent Inguinal Heenia. 

 When the hernia appears suddenly, in a subject not predis- 

 posed to it, the first symptoms are those of abdominal pain, ap- 

 pearing suddenly and without warning, and quite inconsistent 

 with the general perfect health of the animal. These symptoms 

 are at first vague in their significance, and definable merely as ex- 

 hibitions of simple pain in the abdomen. 



