254 
A TREATISE ON INGUINAE HERNIA. 
rases hernia is complicated with hydrocele, the tumour assuming a par¬ 
ticular shai)e, and considerable magnitude. Besides these distinctions, 
a hernia may be latent, confined to the groin, then c-AWt&huboiiocelt ; or 
it may descend into the scrotum, and then takes the name of oscheoctlc. 
Boliimay be recent or inveterate, reducible or irreducible. 
Enterocele certainly occurs ihemost frequently. Rarely is it found on 
both sides at once, oftener taking place on the right; a peculiarity we 
are unable to explaim Ordinarily it commences an'a bubonocele, whose 
character varies according to the resistance opposed, and to the difficulty 
the gut has toreascciid into the abdomen.’’ 
Afe M. Girard himself observes in a note, the rarity of cases 
of adhesion between the gut and the hernial coverings may be 
ascribed to the non-employment of artificial pressure: in man, in 
whom trusses and bandages are so commonly used, the occur¬ 
rence is frequent. There is one fact, however, which has lately 
come to our knowledge, and maybe introduced here byway of 
further illustration; and this is, that it is by no means uncommon 
in India, where castration is ^giiuch practised at a late period of 
life, to find adhesions between the vaginal coverings of the tes- 
' tides : in these cases it cannot be assumed that pressure is the 
cause, though the phenomena are very similar. 
W*e are not suiq)rised that M. Girard has made no mention 
of that which is the common cause of hernia in this country— 
or, to speak more correctly, has made no allusion to the 
sudden and violent efforts e:Scpcrienced in racing and hunting, 
and the special liability of such horses to rupture; a fact of 
so much importance to us, that these are almost exclusively 
the subjects of the disease. We repeat, we are not to feel sur- 
f )rise at this apparent omission, because France, it is well 
Liiown, is a country wherein those spoils are little known, or, 
at least, not practised to the degree of refinement to which they 
are carried at the present day at Newmarket and elsewliere. 
Without meaning to assert, that we have satisfactorily solved 
M. Girard’s gordian knot, we would adduce for considemtiou 
the circumstance of horses in general being taught to strike into 
the canter or gallop with the right leg in advance, a practice 
that cannot fail, in the course of time, to give them a habit of 
prancing and making every kind of effort with the right feet, 
hind as well as fore, so advanced ; consequently, we should ar¬ 
gue, that the right side of the body was undergoing a greater 
stretch of exeilion at such times than the left, and that this 
might possibly induce, to a greater degree on that side, that 
relaxation of the abdominal parietes, which IVI. Girard affirms 
to be one of the causes of hernia. We are not ceitain, however, 
that our continental neighbours make this a prominent object 
in equitation; should they not, our reasoning, of course, will 
not apply. 
