140 Surgical Diseases and Surgery of the Dog 



the hinder border of the symphysis pubis (passing to one side of 

 the penis in the male). The symphysis is cut by means of a strong 

 knife or small hand-saw. One must avoid injuring the dorsal 

 veins of the penis in the male and the plexus of the veins from 

 the clitoris in the female, as hemorrhage therefrom is somewhat 

 difficult to control. A small block of wood is placed under the 

 sacrum, and the iliac bones forcibly turned outward so as to pro- 

 duce a fracture-dislocation at the sacro-iliac synchondroses. Resti- 

 tution of continuity of these parts is accomplished by wiring the 

 bones at the symphysis according to the methods employed in 

 bone suturing. 



When it is desired to close the abdominal wall a careful in- 

 spection must be made to ascertain whether any blood clots or 

 other putrescible material or sponges remain in the cavity. These 

 are to be removed, as their presence is conducive to peritonitis. 



No antiseptic solution for cleansing purposes should ever be 

 allowed to come in contact with the delicate peritoneum. Sterilized 

 water is the only permissible liquid. 



If the omentum has been misplaced it should be returned as 

 nearly as possible to its original position. Any rents in this organ 

 should be sutured, otherwise there is risk of a loop of bowel pass- 

 ing through the same, when the condition would be ripe for 

 strangulation. Though I have never known strangulation to re- 

 sult from such conditions, once, while performing a necropsy, I 

 found a coil of small intestine protruding through a rent I had 

 made some two weeks previously in the course of a resection ex- 

 periment. 



In intestinal operations the omentum is sometimes soiled, in 

 which case it may be advisable to remove the contaminated por- 

 tion, but it is very important to securely ligate any bleeding vessels. 

 In one of Senn's experimental cases it was deiemed advisable to 

 remove a portion of the omentum. The animal died the next day 

 owing to hemorrhage of the omentum by slipping or loosening of a 

 catgut ligature. Senn advises against ligaturing of the omentum 

 or mesentery en masse, but each individual vessel should be searched 

 for and secured separately with aseptic silk. One reason for this 

 is that tissues often shrink after operation, whereby ligatures be- 

 come loosened, so that it is dangerous to include a large area in a 

 single ligature. Parks has also pointed out that the stumps of 



