242 
E. MINK. 
r 
TWO CASES OF URETHRAL CALCULUS-URE¬ 
THROTOMY. 
By E. Mink, Rochester, N. Y. 
4 
In April, 1875, I was called to attend a bay gelding about ten years 
of age, owned by a gentleman residing near Churchville, N. Y. I was 
informed by the owner that a practitioner, who had been attending the 
patient concluded his ailment to be inflammation of the kidneys. In 
any event they were sure there was some trouble about the water works. 
I started to attend the patient with the expectation of finding some 
bowel difficulty. He had been observed for some days previous to pass 
water frequently and in small quantities. He had suffered great pain 
for about twenty-four hours. When I arrived at his stall I found him 
lying down, and he could be induced to rise only with the use of a 
whip. 
In rising and standing he manifested symptoms of considerable 
exhaustion. His pulse and general appearance indicated that he could 
not have endured his sufferings for many more hours without sinking 
under them. An examination at the ischiatic notch showed the urethra 
much distended. I immediately passed a catheter. When it had 
reached the perineal region, it met with an obstruction which I was at 
once satisfied was urethral calculus. The patient was placed under 
restraint with a twitch and side line. The catheter was, by an assistant, 
firmly pressed against the obstruction. I then cut down upon and 
removed it. The catheter was then passed on into the bladder, and 
about twelve quarts of urine came away. 
Relief was instantaneous. The only further treatment advised was 
proper diet, a daily cleaning of the wound, and dressing with a weak 
lotion of carbolic acid. The wound healed rapidly and kindly, and the 
patient resumed work within a few days. 
The second case was in an ox—one of a pair weighing 1800 
pounds—owned by P. J. Thomas, Esq., of Rose, Wayne Co., about 
fifty miles distant from this city. Was called to attend him on the 8th 
of February last. Was informed that he had been sick for about twenty 
days. 
In the opinion of the wise doctors of the neighborhood, his malady 
was horn ail, or tail soak, or both; and, accordingly, his horns had 
been bored, stimulating liquids thrown into the cavities of them , his 
