166 
CALCULOUS AFFECTION. 
with a punch and a small mallet, struck the calculus firmly but 
gently, and succeeded in splitting it in pieces without much diffi- 
culty. All the fragments were carefully collected ; and when we 
deemed the stone sufficiently reduced in size to admit of its pass- 
ing through the incision, it was seized at the most convenient part 
between a pair of long concave forceps, and by judicious and cau- 
tious traction, slowly but completely extracted. 
The extraction accomplished, it became easy to introduce the 
hand, not only into the bag which had contained it, but even into 
the bladder, whose gaping neck presented a circular aperture of 
some seven or eight centimetres in diameter. 
During this painful operation, which lasted nearly forty minutes, 
the animal lost but little blood — not more than a pound and a half 
at most. 
Immediately after the extraction of the stone I injected warm 
water repeatedly into the bladder and the urethral sac, in order to 
cleanse them from any clots of blood they might contain; and then, 
by means of a suture, I brought the edges of the two upper parts 
of the wound together, leaving the lower part open and free, in 
order, for a time, to afford passage to the urine. 
When freed from the constraint of his hobbles the animal ap- 
peared in good spirits, and tried to eat. We only gave him, how- 
ever, white water and straw. As, notwithstanding the poorness of 
the patient, symptoms of fever manifested themselves in the even- 
ing, three kilogrammes of blood were taken from him, and emol- 
lient clysters prescribed. 
The three first days passed pretty well. The horse retained 
both spirit and appetite — lay down and got up again without much 
pain — voided urine without difficulty — no signs of fever; in a 
word, all seemed to promise a favourable result; when, on the 28th, 
the scene changed : the difficulty of getting up, which had existed 
previously to the operation, became more marked, and appeared to 
result from some paraplegia. Soon afterwards a fresh incident 
added complication to the original affection, and gave it a yet more 
serious aspect. After having made violent efforts to stale, the ani- 
mal passed a considerable quantity of clots consisting of red blood, 
which appeared to have recently come out of the vessels through 
the wound. Notwithstanding repeated injections of iced- water into 
the bladder, this haemorrhage, the source of which I knew not, 
came on again on the following days, and each time more and more 
abundantly ; at length, on the eighth day after the operation, ex- 
hausted by loss of blood and suffering, the unfortunate animal, after 
long and severe struggles, expired. 
Examination of the Calculus . — The calculus proved large and 
oblong, slightly flattened at the upper and lower surfaces, smooth 
