AMPUTATION OF THE PENIS. 
403 
much tumefied, but the swelling and oedema rapidly diminish. The 
wound suppurates little. A layer of granulations soon covers it, becomes 
hard, and contracts, gradually drawing the skin over the stump until 
towards the end of the third month, the cicatrix is comparatively 
small. As for the muco-cutaneous wound, when the sutures hold, and 
the mucous membrane does not cut through, the apposed lips rapidly 
unite. Most frequently, however, the mucous membrane cuts through 
at one or more points and becomes separated from the skin ; vegetations 
occur on the exposed tissues, often becoming so abundant as partially 
to obstruct the meatus. There is, however, no cause for alarm. 
Excessive granulation soon ceases, the parts heal; like the wound on 
the extremity of the penis, cicatricial contraction results in drawing 
the mucous membrane towards the skin, and the urethral opening 
resumes and permanently preserves the shape given to it by the 
operator. In both cases the final result is the same ; when the surgeon 
has done his part well, patency of the urethral opening is ensured. 
As soon as inflammatory symptoms disappear, the animal stales with 
the same ease as any other horse. 
Of five cases operated on in the Alfort clinique, during a period of 
two years, not one showed after-contraction; and in those treated 
between 1890 and 1895 the results—except for haemorrhage—were not 
less satisfactory. 
A case of necrosis of the penis in the dog, successfully treated by 
operation, is described inCadiot and Dollar’s “ Clinical Veterinary Medicine 
and Surgery,” p. 409. For cases in the horse, see pp. 411, 412, and 
413 loc. cit. 
In dogs, amputation can be effected either behind the os penis by 
using the knife or ecraseur, or the bone can be sawn through. After the 
latter method strictures and closure of the urethra are certainly 
commoner, though, in my hands, amputation behind the os penis by 
ligaturing blood-vessels, and exposing and sewing the urethra to the 
neighbouring parts, and amputation by sawing through the os penis, 
have been equally successful. A dog operated on in the latter manner 
died a year later from disease of the bladder. On post-mortem, the 
stump was found cicatrised without any considerable stricture of the 
urethra. After-treatment is in all methods the same, and consists in 
washing or syringing out the sheath with disinfecting fluids. 
IV.—DISEASES OF THE PROSTATE. 
In the horse the prostate gland consists of two lobes about 3 inches long 
and 2 broad. The gland is little developed in oxen and swine, but is 
large in carnivora, in which it appears to surround the urethra. In 
dd2 
