274 
PROGNOSIS OF UMBILICAL HERNIA. 
takes the form of a larger or smaller hemisphere, and seldom possesses 
a neck. By thrusting one or two fingers upwards into the swelling, the 
Umbilical ring can be discovered in the depth. Sometimes it scarcely 
admits a finger, sometimes the entire hand can be thrust into it. By 
laying the animal on its back, or pressing on the swelling with the open 
hand, it disappears. 
No mistake can well occur, except in young animals with inflammatory 
disease of the umbilicus; but caution is required in using the knife, 
because such hernise have often been incised with the idea that they were 
abscesses. Where the umbilical ring cannot be felt, and its complete 
closure ascertained, every fluctuating swelling must arouse suspicion of 
umbilical herniae. In dogs, and occasionally in oxen, a swelling the size 
of a walnut is seen in the umbilical region. It is not a hernia, but is 
due to thickening of the subcutis, or to remnants of the umbilical cord, 
which has ruptured or been divided at too low a point. The swelling 
is not affected by pressure, and the umbilical ring is closed. In oxen 
this thickened tissue sometimes becomes inflamed and suppurates. 
Prognosis. Incarceration of umbilical herniae is rare, apparently because 
the contents are formed by colon and omentum. For a similar reason, 
spontaneous recovery is common, and is favoured by small size of the 
rupture, narrowness of the ring, and youth of the animal. In herbivora, 
small umbilical herniae generally disappear as soon as the animals begin 
to receive more hard food, because this produces not only distension of 
the colon, with firm masses of food, but also dilatation of the abdominal 
walls and tension of the peritoneum and skin, by which the hernial 
contents are pressed into the peritoneal cavity. As these causes act 
principally during the first short period after birth, spontaneous healing 
in foals and calves occurs during the first six months of life if at all, 
seldom after the age of one year. 
Prognosis depends, first, on the age of the animal, and then on the 
size of the sac and of the umbilical ring. Incarceration is only excep¬ 
tionally seen in animals, and then only in such as suffer from tympanites, 
in greedy feeders, in those inclined to digestive disturbances associated 
with the formation of gas, or in horses in very heavy draught. 
Treatment. The most varied applications, most of them useless, have 
been recommended in umbilical herniae. Amongst these are local astrin¬ 
gents and the subcutaneous injection of solutions of common salt. 
Such treatment is only followed by recovery where the latter is almost a 
foregone conclusion, as in small ruptures in young animals and particu¬ 
larly in herbivora. Amongst the palliatives most resorted to are— 
(1) Trusses, which are, however, only of real use in cattle and horses, 
and even then to a limited extent. A tampon of tow, smeared with 
Venice turpentine to retain it in position, is placed on the hernia and 
