436 
TUMOUR ON THE COCCYX OF A COW. 
By W. D. Bray, V.S., Broughton-in-Furness. 
On the 9th of April, 1855, I was requested to visit a cow 
belonging to Mr. W. Procter, near this place, which had a 
large tumour pending from the under surface of the coccyx. 
It had been increasing in size for several months, was of an 
oval form, flattened at the part of its attachment, of a dull 
red colour, hot, and painful to the touch ; indeed, so painful 
was it, that the poor animal often moaned when moving the 
tail. Her appetite was nearly gone, and she was rapidly 
losing flesh. I at once informed the owner that the best 
method of treatment was excision ; but as he wished some- 
thing to be tried previous, I endeavoured to remove it by 
ligature; but this causing so much pain to the cow, he at 
length consented to its being taken off by the knife and actual 
cautery. After having properly secured the animal, I pro- 
ceeded to excise the tumour with a large bistoury, beginning 
at the upper surface, and staunching the hemorrhage as I 
went on with the actual cautery. I thus carefully removed the 
tumour, but to my surprise I found that the sixth bone of the 
coccyx had been fractured. It was much decayed, brittle, 
and perfectly black in appearance. It was impossible to have 
ascertained this before the operation was performed, in conse- 
quence of the parts being so much enlarged around and 
adjacent to the vicinity of the tumour. I now anticipated 
no good result from the operation, and amputation was finally 
resorted to, which succeeded. The cow was milked for a 
couple of months, then turned out to feed, fattened, and 
eventually slaughtered. 
The morbid specimen after removal presented an irregular 
oval shape, and was composed of a number of cells, or cavities, 
each of which was composed of a substance much resembling 
soft cartilage. Some of the cells were larger than others, and 
all contained more or less blood. Those at the under surface 
of the tumour contained fluid blood of a delicate pink colour, 
which had imparted the same colour to the tumour in that part, 
whilst at the upper part, near its attachment to the coccyx, 
the cells contained clots of coagulated blood, which had im- 
parted a dark red colour to that part of the tumour. 
The circumference of the tumour was twenty-five inches, 
and its length about seven inches and a half. Its weight, 
after dislodging the blood contained, was three pounds eleven 
ounces. 
