ON BACK-ltAKING. 
379 
until the wound was nearly healed, when locked-jaw ensued, from 
which he also recovered. Afterwards, an abscess formed close to 
the femur, through which I passed a seton. He went short on that 
leg for a time, but ultimately perfectly recovered. 
During a practice . of more than thirty-five years, I cannot say 
that I have known any had consequences to arise from passing the 
arm up the rectum; but the advantage it has given me over those 
of my contemporaries in the same neighbourhood, whose different 
modes of treatment I have had an opportunity of tracing, has, I 
think, been considerable. 
In stoppages of the bowels, injections are of but little use, unless 
the hardened fseces are removed from the lower part of the colon. 
Mr. Simonds appears to argue, that the arm must be simply intro- 
duced in a direct line, and pushed onward with a view to pass and 
withdraw the obstruction, which we know, from the nature and 
position of the colon, to be impracticable. The method I adopt is 
applied in harmony with the known anatomy of the parts. Having 
reached the upper part of the rectum, and acting through the aper- 
ture, so well defined by Dupuy, by careful and consecutive pres- 
sure on the folds of the colon, gently grasping and breaking down 
the indurated mass within that bowel, I coax and propel the fseces 
progressively onwards into the rectum. By this means it has often 
fallen to my lot, to the surprise and dismay of parties by whom I 
have been employed, to pronounce cases as hopeless, where no 
danger had been apprehended. Thus I have discovered enlarged 
livers, a gorged stomach, a disorganized kidney, and stone in the 
bladder. A successful practice makes me bold to engage to extract, 
in less than ten minutes, a stone in the bladder, of the weight of 
six or eight ounces, without wounding its neck. Such an operation 
I performed in 1820, with the assistance of one man (a carpenter) 
and two of my eldest sons, then boys. After the operation, there 
was little or no inflammation, not the least ill consequence resulted 
from it, and the horse was soon after hunted as usual. 
About twelve months ago, I was called to attend a colt belong- 
ing to Mr. George Foot, of this island. His servant stated that the 
colt was very uneasy, and that he thought he had “ a touch of the 
fret .” He added, he did not think it worth my while to go and 
see him ; but requested that I would send some medicine, which he 
would administer. I went, however, and, after I had made my 
examination, to the astonishment of all present, I gave it as my 
opinion that nothing I could do would be of any avail, being under 
the impression, at the time, that there was a stone in the bowels. 
The next day the colt died. I opened it, and extracted from the 
bowel, not a stone, but a solid substance, about the size of a cocoa- 
