486 
CALCULI IN THE SHEATH OF AN OX. 
the cow, either by the coarse which I adopted, or by separating 
the fore legs from the thorax, which is a plan I have often fol¬ 
lowed, and always successfully. 
It astonishes me not a little, that sensible men should trust the 
lives of their animals in the hands of such empirics; it is, how¬ 
ever, frequently the case in many parts of this country, that the 
veterinary surgeon is not called until it is too late, or, to use a 
sportsman’s phrase, only “in at the death.” These are facts, 
gentlemen ; and facts are 
- “ Chiels that winmi ding, 
Ard dovvna be disputed.” 
And were it not for the cause of humanity, it would be meet to 
wish them joy of their skiely man or woman , and let them learn 
by the loss of their cattle the ignorance of those they employ. 
Portsoy, 2Gth June, 1834. 
AN ACCUMULATION OF CALCULI IN THE SHEATH 
OF AN OX. 
By the same . 
I was lately requested by Mr. Dupont, of Bogtown, to examine 
a three-year-old stot, which he said had a considerable swelling 
under the belly, resembling a bonnet; and he thought that there 
was, at the same time, an obstruction in the urethra. On ex¬ 
amination I found the swelling as large as stated, occasioned by 
an accumulation of urine in the sheath. I immediately intro¬ 
duced a probe-pointed bistoury, and made an incision of about 
three inches long, when nearly a gallon of water followed, with 
some calcareous matter; and, on putting my finger into the 
sheath, I extracted about fifty calculi, from the size of a pin’s 
head to that of a filberd : the animal is now quite well. 
Remarks .—The cause of the accumulation may be easily ac¬ 
counted for by an adhesion of the sheath, which took place in 
consequence of the extirpation of some large warts from its orifice 
six months ago; and though there was at first an opening left suf¬ 
ficient to let the urine flow, a calculus had filled up the small aper¬ 
ture so completely as to prevent its exit. From this I would con¬ 
clude, that the formation of urinary calculi in the lower animals 
is much more frequent in this quarter than is generally supposed ; 
and they are voided with the urine before they attain a large size, 
as in this case, for their existence would not have been known 
had it not been for the contraction in the end of the sheath. 
