VENTRAL HERNIA. 
211 
fracture, I think, there is no doubt occurred during the 
chase, the bone becoming displaced when the lameness was 
evinced. 
I have recorded a case of fracture of both ossa suffragini 
in the Journal for 1855, page 260; also another case of frac¬ 
ture, at page 275, bearing upon this point. 
A short time since, I met with an instance of fracture of 
the head of the humerus, caused by a horse galloping against 
some iron fencing, displacement not occurring till several days 
after the accident. My observations have led me to believe 
that we get occult lameness from fracture, unaccompanied 
with displacement of bone, more frequently than we are apt 
to imagine. 
CASE OF VENTRAL HERNIA. 
By E. J. Bovett, M.R.C.V.S., Bridgewater. 
January 21st, 1859-—I was hastily summoned to see a 
grey cob, the property of Mr. C. Kirk, horse-dealer of this 
town, which was said to have staked himself, and that his 
intestines were protruding, larger than his, the messenger’s 
head. On my arrival 1 found a jagged w r ound to exist in 
the near flank, from which about a foot of the colon pro¬ 
truded. I was informed the horse was “ all right ” the night 
before, but had been found in the above state by the groom 
in the morning, who thereupon hurried off for me. 
On examining the stable 1 perceived that the stall-post 
had become rotten at the bottom, and that a shorter one had 
been driven into the ground, and then nailed to the original 
post, about eighteen inches from the bottom, as a stay. The 
nails had split the short post, and on a horse leaning against 
the stall-boards, he w T ould force the old, and one half of the 
short post out of the perpendicular, leaving the remaining 
pointed half of the shorter one sticking up. On this my 
patient had laid, and struggled no doubt, for some time, as I 
found a portion of omentum, about the size of my hand, 
adhering to the top of the post. 
I at once cast the animal, which forced the intestine out 
to double the size it was when he was standing; and having 
fixed the near hind leg to a bar, driven into the ground be¬ 
hind, I proceeded to examine the parts. I found that the 
external wound in the skin of the flank did not correspond 
to that in the abdominal muscles, which was in a line 
