298 
A TREATISE ON INGUINAL HERNL®. 
that all passage through it is interrupted, the hernia is said to be strangu¬ 
lated, an event indicated by the rapid aggravation of all the symptoms. 
Occasionally the gut is merely nipped or pinched at the ring, forming a 
swelling about the magnitude of a nut; but in other cases a part of it enters 
the canal, in which matters accumulate, and distension and gangrene follow. 
One characteristic of a hernial swelling is here omitted, and that 
is, the sense of fluctuation or pulsation given to the tumour when 
the animal coughs, which he can at any time be made to do by 
simple compression of the throttle; indeed, so remarkable is this 
effort, that, should the hernia be by manipulation actually or ap¬ 
parently reduced, nothing is more likely to cause it to return than 
a sudden or violent fit of coughing. We repeat, therefore, and we 
think with reason, that this is an important circumstance, and one 
that ought to be attended to. 
A horse suffering from recent strangulated hernia is seized with colic, 
which rapidly becomes aggravated, and only ceases some moments before 
death, on the gut becoming gangrenous. The alternate ascent and descent 
of the testicle follow at first in quick succession, the intervals after a time 
growing longer, until at length that organ continues long drawn up, and 
finally ceases to reappear. The symptoms of colic change rapidly to those of 
the most alarming description : he lies upon his back, a position in which he 
finds temporary relief; he writhes, while in the erect posture, and, fixing 
his fore feet, crouches almost to the ground with pain; he breaks out into a 
profuse sweat; and, instead of sinking to the ground, as happens in ordi¬ 
nary enteritic cases, he falls all at once like a lifeless mass. The violent 
spasms may terminate in vomiting, and that occasion rupture of the sto¬ 
mach, as occurred in M. Languenard’s case. 
M. Girard himself has also published a case of this kind, in 
which vomiting was present, although it was not followed by any 
organic lesion, which we take to be a rare occurrence. The case 
(which will be found in the Memoir on Vomition, appended to 
M. Girard^s Treatise of Anatomy) was one of strangulated intes¬ 
tinal hernia: the animal survived but three days, during which 
his sufferings were extreme. Some moments before he sunk, he 
vomited at several ejections a pretty considerable quantity ofjluid, 
consisting of the beverage which had been given to him.’^ 
(To be continued.) / 
Prize Essay, to he sent on or before the 15^/^ of October: 
The Fore Extremity of the Dog. 
