450 OPERATIONS OK THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



veterinary practice. According to Director Degives, who furnishes 

 the only description of the operation to which we have been able 

 to obtain access, the indication for laparotomy occurs in cases of 

 intestinal invagination, internal hernia and intestinal strangulation 

 and for the removal of foreign bodies from the abdominal cavity 

 or the intestinal tract. 



Once a celebrated surgeon of New York had decided to prac- 

 tice it upon one of his valuable dogs, which was suffering with 

 impaction caused by the lodgement of a mass of hair in the intes- 

 tines, which we fortionately succeeded in softening and removing 

 by internal treatment. The indications for the operation are im- 

 perative as soon as a fatal result becomes imminent and certain. 

 The instruments necessary are a convex bistoury and suture needles. 



Dr. Degives briefly describes the operation as follows : " Posi- 

 tion and Restraint of the animal standing up, or in stocks, or 

 resting against a wall or its equivalent. If the animal is restless 

 let Viim be throvtm down on the side opposite to that of the opera- 

 tion, which is divided into three steps. 



First Step, opening of the fiank. — The abdominal opening 

 must be in the upper part of the flank, upon a line between the 

 hip and the last rib. This opening may be made in two ways : 



1st, or Simple Method. — It consists in making an incision 

 through the various anatomical layers, in the same direction, in 

 order to form a simple vertical wound, large enough to admit the 

 hand. The parts having been shaved, the division of the skin, the 

 abdominal muscles and the peritoneum is made successively with 

 the convex bistoury. The incision of the deep layers alone pre- 

 sents any difficulty, and this requires some attention, the hemor- 

 rhage being sometimes troublesome ; but when the peritoneum is 

 exposed, the incision is increased, from without inward, with 

 either a blunt bistoiiry or the straight bistoury controlled by a 

 grooved director, an assistant protecting the intestines from the 

 contact of the instrument. 



2d, or New Method, by Complex Incision. — In this each mus- 

 cle is divided in the direction of its own proper fibres. Thus 

 the first is a transverse, cutaneous incision ; second, three muscu- 

 lar divisions, running in directions more or less opposed to each 

 other; the first, obUquely downward and backward; the second, 

 obhquely forward and downward, and the third transversal and 

 parallel to that of the skin. These incisions are very easily made, 



