425 
STRANGULATED HERNIA IN A COW. 
By Jas. Stowar, V.S., Turreff, Aberdeenshire. 
To the Editor of 11 The Veterinarian 
Sir, — As I have been an attentive reader of The VETERI- 
NARIAN for some time, and have of late seen several letters 
from “Correspondents,” I beg your acceptance of the following 
interesting case for insertion : — 
On the 17th of Sept. 1850, I was called to the farm of 
Ashogle, to see a cow which had been injured by the horns of 
another ; but as I had left home that afternoon for a distance, 
and did not return until late next day, I did not see the cow 
until the 19th. I found her with a hernial tumour protruding 
from the right iliac, which remained covered within the skin, 
so large that a bushel measure would not have contained it. 
She was evidently in much pain while standing, and would 
stand only a very short time. I was told that she had eaten a 
good deal since the accident, and, as a stoppage of the dung was 
observed, they had given her a pound of Epsom salts. Her 
abdomen was enormously distended, notwithstanding the large- 
ness of the hernial tumour. The non-escape of the faeces was 
proof positive, under the circumstances, of the hernia being 
strangulated. 
I had her laid on the left side, as carefully as possible, and, 
after every attempt to return the hernia by external manipula- 
tion had failed, I cut into the sac, and attempted to knead in, 
inch by inch, the gorged intestines ; but in this also I failed. 
The hernial opening was large enough to admit three of my 
fingers, so that it was not want of room in that, but in the ab- 
dominal cavity, which was so fully distended by the intestines 
forming the hernia, that caused the difficulty. I had her laid 
upon her back, with her hind legs drawn up, so as to throw the 
contents of the abdomen as much as possible upon the dia- 
phragm. Even then, however, I could not succeed ; I therefore 
with a sharp-pointed scalpel cut into the intestine, and emptied 
it entirely of its semi-fluid contents; stitched up the wound, 
and washed it carefully; and so ultimately accomplished the 
reduction. With a strong cord I closed the hernial opening, 
as well as the one I had made through the skin, nine inches 
farther up ; I then turned her on her left side, and in a few 
minutes the faeces began to escape by their proper channel. 
I gave ol. lini ^xx, cum tine, opii ^ij- Next morning I found 
her up, stepping through the shed, inclined to eat, her bowels 
acting freely. J had her tightly bandaged, to support the ab- 
