PROGRESS OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 283 
of the internal inguinal openings per rectum. Accordingly a 
piece of gut was found to be strangulated on the left side. 
Three attempts were made to reduce it by the rectum, and 
the third was crowned with success, one of the folds of 
the gut having been seized and drawn out. It was found 
that any assistance by pressing up from below rather in- 
terfered with the reduction. The whole time they were 
engaged in this effort did not exceed twenty minutes. The 
strangulated gut was a portion of the small intestine, a small 
fold of it being imprisoned in the ring. 
After the reduction, all pains ceased ; no cure was at- 
tempted with the chronic hydrocele, and thus it has remained 
ever since, as it was before. Such instances are evidently 
rare ; Lecouturier, in eighteen years’ practice, has only seen 
one case, which occurred two years before this one just re- 
lated, and Andre had never witnessed anything like it. — Ann. 
de Med. Vet., Bruxelles , June, 1855. 
An eulogium is passed on MM. Andre and Lecouturier by 
the reporter of the above case; still it is said, that they would 
have more readily formed a diagnosis, if they had followed 
the advice of Hurtrel d’Arboval, but especially of Delwart, 
on inguinal hernia. It show's (says the reporter), that to be 
a great practitioner, it requires judgment, and still more 
learning. Unhappy is he who thinks he know's all ! 
I presume that this stricture has been passed because the 
outw r ard pathognomonic signs of incarceration of intestine in 
the inguinal canal were not sought after. D’Arboval states, 
and Delw 7 art copies from him, that u the pulse becomes wiry, 
the eyes red, and pupils dilated ; slight colicky pains mani- 
fest themselves, and are continued or intermittent ; the 
testicle, on the side where the hernia exists, is retracted, and 
is moved alternately upwards and downw 7 ards. This irregular 
movement, the more frequently repeated the stronger the 
pains, is one of the pathognomonic signs w'hich merits the 
most serious attention, and should constantly induce the 
veterinarian to explore the inguinal opening.” 
Agreeing as I do with the sentiments expressed in the 
foregoing criticism, I cannot accord that Lecouturier de- 
served anything but praise. He demonstrated a degree of 
intuitive perception which has procured the highest encomiums 
for many practical surgeons. Amongst these, Dupuytren takes 
the foremost rank ; and we might almost class the diagnostic 
skill displayed w r ith that wdiich has been required in man, to 
discover and operate upon an obturator hernia, or in the 
detection of the exact seat of an invagination, and reducing 
it by surgical means. It shows that such cases are rare, 
