114 
ROBERT W. ELLIS. 
urethra, possibly in the bladder. I reasoned that as the length 
of the blood-clot closely approximated that of the urethra, that 
that organ was probably the mould in which the clot was 
formed, between the time it left the bladder in the form of 
blood and the time when it was forced out immediately pre¬ 
ceding micturition. You will remember that the attendant had 
insisted that the blood clots were forced out after considerable 
straining each time, and immediately followed by micturition, 
which would prompt the inference that the clotted blood 
clogged the duct through which the urine was to escape from 
the bladder. Stone in the bladder having been suspected as a 
possible cause of the hsemorrhage, a rectal examination of the 
bladder was made, which revealed nothing abnormal with that 
organ. Direct treatment to the walls of the bladder was now 
decided upon in the form of astringent douches. Accordingly 
a rubber tube was slipped on the end of a catheter, a funnel 
attached to the other extremity of Ihe tube. The catheter was 
now passed, occasioning no pain or inconvenience to the animal 
whatever, the funnel being elevated above the horse’s back, a 
gallon of alum solution at a temperature of ioo° F. was allowed 
to flow into the bladder. This solution was retained for a few 
minutes, when the tube was removed and the contents of 
bladder allowed to flow out again, through the catheter; but, 
strange to say, as clear as when it entered it; at least so far as 
anv trace of blood was concerned. 
j 
The next day the douche was repeated ; but instead of evacu¬ 
ating the bladder through the catheter, as on the previous day, 
the catheter was immediately withdrawn, and after retaining 
the douche for a few minutes, the horse placed himself in posi¬ 
tion to urinate, and the solution again came away clear, and 
after it (as though impelled by one of those spasmodic move¬ 
ments which usually terminate micturition) came a blood clot, 
measuring about twenty-four inches in length and of the same 
thickness and texture as the one described. I might add to 
their description, to make it more complete, that on making a 
section, an extremely thin membrane appeared to envelop them, 
