48 
A SINGULAR OPERATION ON A PIG. 
with the operation performed for the renewal of the passage, may 
prove acceptable to the readers of The Veterinarian. 
A boar pig, aged exactly three weeks, was brought to the 
dispensary of the Edinburgh Veterinary College on the 23d of 
June last, and submitted to the examination of Professor Dick, 
who kindly requested my attendance, and to perform the opera- 
tion. It was stated by the owner that, a. few days before, in con- 
sequence of the enormous distention which the belly of the ani- 
mal had assumed, and the symptoms of extreme pain and distress 
that it shewed, and that had been from that time hourly in- 
creasing in severity, he was induced to examine it carefully, and 
found that it was perfectly “ smooth and plain behind,” and with 
none of the natural appearances of an anus. Hitherto it had fed 
well, and was in as thriving a condition as the others of the same 
litter; but for two or three days it had been continually crying, 
rolling about from side to side, as if desirous to relieve itself of 
the contents of the belly ; and what little food it had taken dur- 
ing this period it invariably vomited again in a very short time. 
So far as he had observed, however, none of the contents of the 
bowels had ever been brought up with it. 
Supposing that all was not right, and that the symptoms 
depended on the fundament having been grown up, he had him- 
self attempted to renew the passage, by making an incision com- 
pletely through the integuments from the root of the tail to the 
base of the scrotum ; but, not finding the discharge of matter 
which he had anticipated, he desisted from further cutting. 
On examination we found the animal in excellent condition, 
firm in flesh and very plump in substance. The belly was extremely 
swollen, tense, and firm ; so that progression was entirely pre- 
vented, and the slightest degree of pressure was indicated by 
symptoms of great pain. 
On passing the point of the finger into the wound that had 
been made, I found that the whole thickness of the integuments 
had been divided in the proper place, but no sense of fluctuation 
was conveyed to the point of my finger, so as to indicate whether 
or not the blind extremity of the gut had stopped short at the 
surface, was more deeply seated, or was in communication with 
any other of the pelvic viscera. By a slight degree of pressure 
in the perineeum and over the pubes, we were enabled to obtain 
the contents of the urinary bladder ; and as this discharge was 
perfectly transparent and natural in appearance, we were con- 
vinced that the bowel was not in connexion with it, and that 
in all likelihood it had ended in a cul de sac , farther forwards in 
the pelvis. 
The animal being suspended by the hocks, a small sharp- 
