644 CxVSTRATION OF A MULE, FOLLOWED BY DEATH. 
extending along the belly; the wounds are black, and the suppu¬ 
ration foetid, and of a grey colour. They were frequently washed 
with chloride of lime. Mercurial frictions were employed twice 
in the day under the belly and at the flanks; setons were placed 
in the thighs, and blisters on the chest. A decoction of gentian, 
with the addition of camphor, was given. 
29^A.—The pulse could scarcely be felt; the respiration was 
short and laborious. The animal began to scrape the ground; he lay 
down and got up again immediately, looking mournfully at his 
flanks. This continued with very few and short remissions until 
two o’clock after midnight, when he died. 
Post-mortem examination six hours after death .—The belly was 
much swollen, and there was a yellow infiltration of the abdominal 
parietes from the sheath to the sternum. The spermatic cords 
were black and thickened throughout their whole extent. The pe¬ 
ritoneum was much inflamed, and also the epiploon. Red spots of 
various size and form were scattered upon the mesentery. There 
was an effusion of red-coloured fluid in the abdomen. The blad¬ 
der was very much contracted, and of a deep-red colour within 
and without. 
[This is a singular case, and is very simply and scientifically told; 
yet we cannot agree with the author, much as we, in common 
with all who know him, respect his talent and the accuracy of 
his judgment. He tells us that the testicles which he removed 
were not larger than a nut, and yet were perfectly organized. 
The latter part of the sentence, from a man of M. Olivier’s expe¬ 
rience, is certainly startling. “ The testicles were not larger 
than a nut, and yet were perfectly formed.” It is a case which 
stands alone in the history of veterinary surgery, and, I believe 
that I may add, of human surgery too. It is the opinion, I be¬ 
lieve, of every practitioner of experience, that the dartos muscle 
is occasionally subject to disease. It not only becomes to a 
considerable degree thickened, but tumours form upon it, which 
are sometimes attached to the proper substance of the testicle, 
and at other times depend from it in the form of little tumours 
projecting from the ring, and preventing the descent of the tes¬ 
ticle. One of these existing on either side might be easily mis¬ 
taken for a small testicle; and this is more likely to have been 
the case, even with so accurate an observer as M. Olivier, than 
that the mule should really have had four testes—a circum¬ 
stance previously unheard of. If any of our readers can throw 
light on this intricate subject, we shall be really thankful.—Y.] 
