TREATMENT OF UMBILICAL HERNIA. 
275 
fastened by a girth passed round the body. Rolling in this way cured 
umbilical herniee in foals in six weeks. Marbot states having cured 
ten cases of the kind in thirty-two days by means of bandages. As a 
substitute for the bandage, a pitch plaster may be applied, or the sac 
painted with collodion after reducing the hernia, but neither method 
is reliable, especially on the very elastic skin of dogs, and plasters 
seldom remain a sufficient time in position to have any permanent good 
effect. 
(2) Caustic and blistering substances, like sulphuric or nitric acid or 
cantharides ointment, applied to the hernial sac, have been recommended 
in the larger animals (horse and ox). In France nitric acid was first 
recommended in 1848 by Dagot, and about the same time it was used in 
Germany in common with sulphuric acid. The latter is generally diluted 
with 3 to 5 parts of water or spirit, and rubbed into the hernial sac daily 
for five to eight days. Concentrated sulphuric or nitric acid is applied 
with a glass rod in the form of lines. The lines must be at least § to f 
of an inch apart, and the acid can seldom be used more than twice. 
Others apply the concentrated sulphuric acid with a brush to the entiie 
surface of the sac twice, beginning at the periphery, and taking care that 
the lowest portion of the sac does not receive too much. laiticulai caie 
is required in applying concentrated nitric acid, and it should nevei be 
left to the owner, but be used by the practitioner himself. The irritant 
effect is sometimes too great, and, owing to excessive swelling and tension, 
the skin tears through or becomes necrotic before union has taken place 
at the neck of the hernial sac. Prolapse of the bowel then occuis, as 
noted by Weber in foals and Roche-Lubin in dogs. The thinner the sac 
and the skin covering it, the greater the care required in applying con¬ 
centrated acids. Duriaux and Cagny have recently recommended 
sinapisms instead of acids, stating that mustard produces the same effect 
as acids, but is less dangerous. Acids are useful for this purpose, because 
they do not soften the structure of the skin like alkalies, but give a him 
scab. Nitric acid produces a stronger effect than sulphuiic, and is, 
therefore, more painful and dangerous, while chromic acid and bichromate 
of potash (1 to 3) often affect deep-seated structures too much. The 
swelling which appears is the best guide, and immediately it seems 
sufficient, further applications should be avoided. 
The actual cautery has been recommended with the same object, and is 
applied in the form of lines. In France and Belgium bandages and 
blistering ointments have been simultaneously used, but this mixed 
method is not commendable. 
Degive recommends a bandage constructed by Martin for use m the horse, 
which carries a plate of tinned iron, 14 inches long and 4 broad, whose 
form responds to that of the lower surface of the belly, upon w ic i i is 
T 2 
