PEN ET RATING INTO Til E ABDOMEN. 645 
abdomen ; and, second, that of the air, which was much less 
dangerous. 
Two means presented themselves for the attainment of the first, 
which were either to expel the fluid through the opening of the 
wound in the flank, or to make another opening lower down. 
It might have been possible to execute the first means, either 
by placing the animal in such a position that the wound should 
be the lowest part of the abdominal cavity; or by sucking up 
the liquid through this opening with a pump. The first of these 
two methods appeared to me impracticable, for the animal would 
certainly have sunk under its execution : l therefore tried the 
second. I adapted the pipe of an injection syringe to another 
very long pipe of leather, and introduced it into the wound ; but 
our efforts were almost useless. After a quarter of an hour’s 
labour, I only had extricated about four ounces of a thick bloody 
liquid, of a very infectious odour. Almost every moment the pipe 
was obstructed by coagulations which were found in the belly, or 
by the intestines, which w r ere drawn to its opening when we raised 
the piston of the pump. I also found that 1 should never succeed 
in getting the fluid out by these means, for a great quantity of it 
evidently occupied the abdominal cavity. The attempt would 
otherwise be fatal on account of the irritation which would neces- 
sarily be brought on by. the continual contact of the tube with 
the organs; and because it was next to impossible to execute it 
without letting air into the abdomen, at least unless we had a 
very complicated apparatus. 
The second means was therefore tried. I made an incision a 
little to the right of the umbilicus, and cautiously divided the 
whole thickness of the abdominal parietes. I then introduced 
into this opening, which was not more than a quarter of an inch 
in length, a tube that would just occupy the incision. There 
immediately flowed in a continued stream a small quantity of the 
fluid which I have described ; but soon afterwards it came only 
drop by drop. I then changed the direction of the pipe, and the 
liquid escaped in a fresh stream for a few minutes; by thus vary- 
ing the position of the pipe, which was sometimes impeded by 
the intestines, and using a little pressure occasionally on the 
parietes of the abdomen, I obtained the evacuation of about two 
pounds of fluid. I did not stop up the opening when I with- 
drew the catheter, and the fluid continued to escape in drops. 
I made no attempt to get rid of the air which was in the supe- 
rior region of the abdomen, but closed the wound in the flank 
with fresh pledgets, which I kept on by the threads which were 
already there. 
