OPERATION ON A PIG. 
49 
pointed bistoury was taken, and a careful dissection made down- 
wards, exactly in the mesial line, cutting through the fibres of 
the sphincter and retractor ani muscles on either side. The re- 
tractor ani muscles were found perfectly united along their pelvic 
surfaces for about one inch and a half; and, after they had been 
carefully separated from each other, in order to form the walls of 
the new canal, the point of the finger came upon some loose cel- 
lular tissue. On the animal being placed in the perpendicu- 
lar position and caused to cry and strain, a fluctuating swelling 
was pressed against its point at each expiration. The knife, with 
its cutting edge sheathed nearly to its point, was then pushed 
through the apex of the tumour, when a gush of fluid faeces 
took place, with the effect of diminishing the tension and swel- 
ling of the abdomen, and affording immediate relief to all the 
urgent svmptoms. A flexible gum bougie was then introduced 
into the bowels to the extent of six inches, and as its point 
was felt to pass on and move freely in it, I concluded that the 
end of the bowel had been opened, and that no farther obstruc- 
tion existed in it, in the form of complete partitions, which have 
several times been found in similar cases in the human indi- 
vidual. 
To induce the peristaltic movements of the bowels to carry off 
the remaining feculent matter a dose of saline laxative medicine 
was given, and, for a few days, the animal was ordered to be fed 
on soft mashed meat. A tent of lint, smeared over with lard, was 
introduced by means of a bougie along the whole of the wound, 
and the owner was instructed to withdraw it occasionally, and to 
introduce a small wax bougie several times a-day. 
From this time the case went onwards to a successful termina- 
tion. The bowels became regularly evacuated ; the tension of 
the belly receded, and the animal got on in its feeding, and throve 
extremely well. The surface of the wound healed kindly over, 
leaving a good-sized canal for the passage of the faeces, and the 
animal seemed to have very considerable power over the anal 
muscles in retaining or expelling voluntarily the contents of the 
newly-made passage. 
Pathologically considered, the above case cannot be viewed as 
a simple one of imperforate anus, but rather as one of absence 
of the greater portion, if not of the entire length, of the rectum. 
This statement will be more evident when the depth to which 
the dissection had to be carried — an inch and a half from the 
skin — before the bowel was reached, and, connected with the 
age of the animal, the comparative shallowness of the pelvis, and 
the shortness in the length of this portion of the intestine at this 
period. When all these things are considered, it would appear 
VOL. XVI. G 
