84 
SCROTAL HERNIA. 
Hoping to see a great increase of contributors to your 
valuable periodical for the present year, 
I remain, &c. &c. 
In the beginning of October, 1852, I "was requested to see 
a brown entire horse, aged, the property of Mr. Joseph 
Sevenorton, farmer, near Coagh. On examining the horse, 
I found it was a case of scrotal hernia ; and, as I had seen the 
horse very frequently during two or three seasons without 
any appearance of hernia, I naturally inquired if he (the 
owner) could account for it in any way. He told me that 
the only cause he knew was, that he had been to the neigh- 
bourhood of Lurgan during the season to a mare ; that both 
animals were taken into a field adjoining the Ulster Railway, 
where, in the act of covering her, one of his hind legs slipped 
down into a ditch, and that he appeared rather dull for some 
time after; and that the swelling continued to increase in 
volume, which hangs, at this time, nearly down to his hocks . 
The hernia is on the left side. I warned him of the amount 
of danger attending such a case ; at the same time, that he 
would have to be castrated, and, if operated on by me, that I 
would not be responsible for the result. Having given him 
so little encouragement, he took the horse away, and I heard 
no more of him until the 6th of November, at which time he 
brought him up to the house of a relation in this neigh- 
bourhood, determined to have him operated on at all hazards, 
as he would not see him about his place any longer in the 
state he was. 
On the 8th I operated, a testicule couvert , on the affected 
side, the other testicle being removed in the ordinary way. 
I then inserted two strong metallic sutures above the clam, 
as close to the abdomen as possible. The horse was now 
allowed to rise. I ought to have stated that he was starved, 
or nearly so, for forty-eight hours before the operation. The 
after-treatment consisted in giving a dose of physic, scarifying 
the pendulous sheath, &c. and keeping the hind parts raised 
in the stable. The clam on the left side remained on until it 
sloughed off; the metallic sutures were not removed for a 
considerable time after. The horse perfectly recovered, 
and has since been sold, possessing a scrotum of the ordi- 
nary size. 
G. M. M. 
January 14, 1854. 
*** A very interesting and judiciously managed case. — 
Ed. Vet . 
