PROGRESS OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 52 7 
three lines in diameter. It is necessary that the stilet be 
very sharp, and thus made at once to traverse the parietes of 
the abdomen and intestine. On removing the canula the 
outer orifice is pinned, and some suggest that, more effectually 
to prevent the entrance of air into the belly, clay, or some 
pasty mixture, should be applied over the wound ; this is so 
small that no apprehension as to consequences need exist. 
Ectopia cordis. — In the third number of the Repertorium 
der Thierheilkunde for 1855, Hering gives the history and 
description of a new case of abnormal position of the heart as 
the result of defective or anomalous development. In the 
same journal for 1849, is the first instance studied by 
Hering; and in the volume for 1852, Leimer, a veterinary 
surgeon, published another. 
Alessandrini, of Bologna, wrote an elaborate essay, in 1830, 
under the title Descrizione di un Vitello Mostruoso , in which 
the anatomy of a case of ectopia cordis is fully described. 
The venerable professor presented me with this, as with 
many other of his valuable memoirs, whilst I was studying 
the specimens in the Museum of the Pontifical University, 
and I am therefore enabled to give a sketch of a case of 
ectopia that is not generally known to teratologists ; at least 
I have not, as yet, seen it quoted. 
A cow, that had given birth to several well-formed and 
healthy calves, was delivered of one on the 31st of March, 
1829, after an undisturbed period of nine months and ten 
days of utero-gestation. The new-born calf was of ordinary 
weight and size, except that the thorax was considerably 
compressed, and from its antero-inferior part hung a large 
pedunculated tumour. M. Ulisse Belvederi, the veterinary 
surgeon that first saw the case, observed the rhythmic con- 
tractions of the mass, and recognised that the heart had 
remained out of its natural cavity. The surface of the tumour 
was soft, and looked like the mucous membrane of the in- 
testine ; the hairy integument stopped short at the margin of 
the sternal aperture, through which the great vessels reached 
the base of the heart, and constituted the peduncle of the 
dependent mass. Shortly after birth, the heart-beats were 
little more frequent than usual; the animal could barely 
stand, but approached its mother several times, for the pur- 
pose of sucking; as soon as it grasped the teat, the breathing 
became oppressed, and syncope usually came on, but was of 
short duration. Twelve hours after birth the tumour was 
notably increased in size, had lost its soft mucous aspect, was 
hot, dry, and had become of a dull red colour, especially 
