MERNIA. 
by Eesehive coughing, and is particularly confmen among 
perfons who play upon wind inftruments, or who have long 
been trbubled seh afthma. Lifting heavy weights isa thing, 
above all others, conducive to the complaint, fince the mufcles 
ef the abdomen exert themfelves with great force at a time 
when the body is bent, and the openings in the groins con- 
fequently relaxed. 
Coftive perfons are alfo reckoned Particularly i to 
herniz, becaufe they are compelled to itrain, and m 
mufcles a& with vait power on the bowels, before Shade can 
void their feces. 
The vifcera, ae d by thele two 
forces, e€ cape wherever the refiftance of the fides of the 
men is not equal to the degree of preflure 
- Herniz are faid to be. very frequently the -confequence 0 of 
firi@ures in the urethra, patients, afflicted with ftoppages in 
this canal, being often under the nec cellity ov: exerting nat 
abdominal muicles with peculiar force, in order to be able t 
expel the urine. 
Ca arryi ng hea avy cara Papier jumping, vomitin 
parturition, and, in fhor very fort of confiderable 
effort and exertion, sia fe ove hee exciting caufe of a hernia, 
ns the mufcles, which have the power of senile Mp 
vilcera, into a ftate of ftrong and violent aétion. In 
: this latt circumitance, a hernia may be formed ina nh 2 who 
is no way fama fed to the difeafe; and with how much 
greater facilit a rupture may occur, ‘when there is a pre- 
‘difpofition, it is needlefs to dwell upon. 
The fame principles ferve to explain why herniz. are ob- 
ferved to be particularly ih ontie among the labouring 
claffes of ee and the inhabitants ef mountainous coun- 
tries. The ee and ane are, for the fame 
reafon, not an uncom occafion of ruptures in children. 
pie the confequence of thefe parts becoming loaded 
fat. When fatnefs comes on very fuddenly, it is par- 
tally apt to occafion a rupture, the abdominal 1 muicles 
them the enlargement 
of the contents of the belly with — quicknefs. 
The {welling of the uterus in pregnancy fometimes gives 
rife to herniz, efpecially thofe of - umbilical and femoral 
Blows and kicks upon the abdomen have been obferved 
to excite hernial orate Rough horfe exercife, the jolting 
a preffure of tight clothes around t 
carriages, and the 
body, are alfo noticed as premoting the frequency of the 
coo Sera torpor mn 
ng caufes are generall which » 
have rem hand Tiieainile the a Psi made by the 
tes of pt Shiels predeest ester 7" ifcera. 
Weaknefs of every kind is accounted a very principal pre- 
difpofing caufe of iz, ic 
with relaxed ftate, ane only 
bewels ufually efcape, but alfo a relaxation of 
teins aio proceiles of it, which ferve to con 
ifeera in their ; tive fitua ; 
, and it is iid sie eat fo 
raf thole apertures through- 
tion ; and hence the great frequeney of the difeafe among 
fuch old nme as are tt to labour hard for their livels- 
Juville, a celebrated risilictnakes im Paris, und thas 
numberof fubjeéts with hernie was about one-thirtieth of 
he population in meer and the north of Europe ; one- 
fifteenth in Italy and Spain ; and ey in France 
and England. (Traité des Band. Hern. p. 21,22.) In 
Malta and Egypt, the valt numbers of besond demtiobs feen 
among the natives, have rae the notice of all furgeons. 
who have vilited thofe countrie 
me perfons are, in all probability, born with a pre- 
fometimes protrude 
the abdominal ring in n the two fexes feems to afford a rational 
ng why inguinal hernia ate common in men, a 
commo women ; while the’ {pace below Poupart’s. 
Segainct in the latter, being greater than what it is in the 
former; oie a reafon why fe “females are moft fubjeé& to the 
femo: In the male fex, alfo, the elas which 
the sbdomuinél ring is capable of making to protrufions o} 
the bowels, muft vary conliderably in different perfons, ac- 
cording to the flrength of the parts concerned in fhutting up 
that a 
oe of the bees from a very fat to a lean condition, 
is alfo enumerated. among the pre-dilpofing caufes of hernia, 
and is thought to ait fo by the abforption pat the adipous. 
matter whey Mag the sd ogee diftended 
ps, the 
the ri ie 
fhare in 
Wor ‘ocondaa the cavity _ the belly, are 
aes incinded, by ‘apo 29 ab alk a AE ps iong 
fes 
of . pre bares 94 t 1a IS erve 
n hereditary conformation. Mr. Aftley acai he 
s that he sie, fre uently eck cialeed by fathers them- 
lves wearing r feve their ¢ afflicted 
with the difeafe. Pop fuch cafes he found, by ice ex. 
inal ri ry imperfeétly 
—, that the ring was vei 
3 seer rita, tithe tattn 
ony abot a 
up. the fuperior mar- 
gongs rings ec re euher t, or very imperfect, 
hag, &: 
