410 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Whether this animal be especially liable to a particular form 
of strangulation, passing under the cow-leech's term of 
“ gut-tie," has long been one of the questiones vexatce of 
veterinary science. Even those who stated that they had 
frequently been called to cases of the kind were unable to 
inform us of the precise nature of the strangulation, or 
give any satisfactory explanation of its cause, while many 
others even denied the existence of the malady. 
Several authors have spoken ofitsnotunfrequent occurrence 
in some districts, leaving it to be inferred that it was rarely 
seen in others. Mr. Youatt speaks of its prevalence “ in low 
and damp situations," and says also, that “ it has followed the 
use of half mouldy and unwholesome fodder." He adds, 
" it has seemed to be connected with hard work, and that on 
an irregular or steep surface ; and some have imagined that 
it is most prevalent where the floor of the ox stables is 
too much inclined, on account of the great pressure on this 
(the posterior) part of the abdomen, and especially in the 
act of rising." Most practitioners, however, have ascribed 
the affection to the operation of castration, asserting 
that it depended upon the receding of the vessels of the 
spermatic cord into the abdomen, and the ultimate forma- 
tion of an adventitious membrane which entangled the 
intestine. 
In our December number for the past year, on the pub- 
lication of a case by Mr. Vine, we invited special attention 
to the subject, and remarked that, “ As this form of strangu- 
lation is involved in much ambiguity, we shall be obliged 
to our professional friends, if they would enable us to inves- 
tigate its true nature by an examination of the structures 
implicated." A ready response was made to this appeal, 
and some specimens were forwarded to us, to show' how' the 
strangulation might occur. We still waited, however, an 
example of the malady, and this w r as soon supplied bv 
Mr. Walker, of Rugby. The history of this case w'as given 
in our last number, and it has tended materially to advance 
our knowledge of the pathology of the affection, while the 
examination of the specimen itself has completely unravelled 
