202 CASE OF LITHOTOMY IN THE HORSE. 
I next tried one of the same size made of hollow lead, to give it 
more flexibility, which I could pass into the bladder by placing* 
my left hand at the perinaeum, and giving it the necessary curve, 
but could not withdraw it without much difficulty and risk of 
lacerating the urethra. 
The idea crossed my mind, that a sound made with joints would 
be practicable to pass into the bladder, and also be withdrawn 
with facility. I had one made as thus:—It was of polished 
round iron, three feet long, one and a half inch in circumference, 
with eight joints at its further extremity. The solid part between 
each joint was one and a quarter inch in length and one and a 
half inch in circumference ; the moveable part being ten inches, 
and the solid part two feet two inches, which had a slight curve, 
commencing one foot from the handle and continuing to the first 
joint of the moveable part, to give it facility to pass the urethra 
in that part where it is attached to the parietes of the abdomen. 
The joints were upon the principle of a half-joint, so that the 
moveable part would only act in a straight line and curve in one 
direction: they were perfectly smooth and rounded when acting 
either in a straight line or curve. I tried this instrument upon 
a dead subject, and it passed the whole length of the urethra 
under the arch of the pubis with perfect facility, directly into the 
bladder, and was as easily withdrawn. It is represented in its 
straight and curved state in the following cut. 
o o 
Having attained thus far, the operation was decided upon and 
conducted as follows:— 
April ls£, 1833, 9 a.m. —The horse (having been previously 
prepared with physic and bran diet) was cast, and secured on his 
back as for castration, with both hind legs drawn up to the 
shoulders, and bolstered in that situation by two half sacks of 
corn firmly tied up. Having the penis drawn from the sheath 
by an assistant (the rectum being previously emptied), I endea¬ 
voured to inject the bladder with warm water, but was only en¬ 
abled to distend the urethra, from the resisting contraction of the 
sphincter. I then passed my jointed sound into the bladder, 
and, having given it to an assistant to hold, pushed my hand into 
