REPORTS OF CASES. 
343 
table and chlorformed, the abdomen was shaved and thoroughly 
disinfected. An incision was made in the median line and the 
bowels exposed. A sterile piece of gauze with a hole in the 
centre was taken and laid over the wound, the portion of bowel 
to be removed was then pulled through the hole, this gave a clear 
field for operation, as well as preventing blood, etc., to leak back 
into the abdominal cavity. The contents of that portion to be 
incised were forced back about i inch above, and below, and the 
bowel clamped, this can be done either by tying with a tape or by 
rubber bands. All branches of the mesenteric arteries that 
supply the region to be ligated. The bowel was then severed 
with a pair of scissors, taking along with it the mesentery that 
was attached. 
There are two ways in which the bowel can be united, i, 
end to end or 2, parallel; in this animal we used the parallel 
method. The cut ends of the bowel were first sewn up, this was 
done by running a purse string suture around the end and tying, 
the ends were tucked in and the serous coats brought together 
by interrupted sutures. The two ends of the bowel were now 
laid parallel to each other, and the serous coats sewn together, an 
incision was made in both portions of the bowel about an inch 
long and the adjacent mucous coats brought together and united 
by sewing the serous coats. The bowel was cleansed and 
warmed by covering with a hot towel, then placed back into the 
cavity and the wound closed by sewing both muscle and skin 
with one suture. Care must be taken that the cut edges of the 
mesentery are brought together, else a portion of the bowel 
might pass through and become strangulated. 
This animal was kept warm and quiet, fed milk for the first 
few days, the external wound was kept clean with a weak anti¬ 
septic solution, at the end of the first week the animal had re¬ 
gained his normal spirits and to all appearances made a good 
recovery. Three weeks after the first operation we again chloro¬ 
formed him, opened up the abdominal cavity, removed another 
portion of bowel and united it by the end to end method; this 
is done by bringing the ends together and passing a suture 
through the muscular and serous coats till the bowel is united. 
The drawback to this method is that often a stricture results at 
the point of union. 
This animal we destroyed and found the results of the first 
operation to be excellent; the two portions were entirely united 
and only a few of the stitches could be seen. 
