926 
DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
into an inguinal one. While this may be satisfactory to the 
client it certainly does not meet the highest expectations of a 
scrupulous surgeon. We shall state without fear of contradiction 
that the only curable scrotal or inguinal hernia in the adult 
horse is the irreducible one, in which the orifice is small and in 
which it was found necessary to enlarge the constriction to re¬ 
place the bowel. In these the inflammation incident to the incis¬ 
ion may occlude the orifice, but in all cases where the orifice is 
large (the majority) the operations described by the best sur¬ 
geons are not radical by any means. Our operations for scrotal 
hernia are palliative, not radical. We only pinch up the sac 
and support the hernia, that is, we lift it higher into the canal. 
In the large animals we must be satisfied with these methods, 
because there is too much danger attending the more compli¬ 
cated (radical) operations. To expose the whole inguinal canal 
and suture the orifice gives us too great a mortality in spite of 
attempted asepsis. The radical operations may be carried out 
profitably in the colt and calf, but never in the horse and ox. 
In the hog and dog the palliative operations are favored by grav¬ 
itation and are hence quite successful. In the young animal 
the simple operations (pinching process) palliate the condition, 
while growth and development accomplish a permanent cure, 
but in old subjects scrotal hernias are entirely refractory to such 
treatment. 
It is frequently said that recent scrotal hernia can be per¬ 
manently reduced by manipulation. In contradiction to this 
statement we will first doubt the very existence of a recent scrotal 
hernia. Recent scrotal hernias are no more nor no less than old 
inguinal hernias that have recently descended into the scrotum, 
and they never can be permanently reduced and retained 
except by operation, and then the best we can do is to support 
them higher in the canal or else jeopardize the patient’s life 
with a radical operation. We are probably not justified in 
adopting the radical herniotomy of the human surgeon, because 
of the relative danger of sepsis, the weight of the viscus on our 
surgical wound and the impossibility to induce absolute quiet 
during the healing. 
Palliative Operations in the Plorse .—Although a veritable 
nightmare to the modern surgeon, the most effectual as well as 
the safest operation is the traditional “ Covered Operation .” It 
has the advantage of accomplishing as much as the other methods 
without exposing the textures to external influences. It is a 
safeguard against sepsis. The modus operandi consists simply 
