244 
E. F. THAYER. 
death, which I was sure was not far off, to ascertain if the bladder was 
ruptured. 
He died within a week. The post mortem revealed a ruptured 
bladder. There were many spectators present during my operations, 
and when I had got through and had entered the hotel of the place, to 
which I was followed by the crowd, I gave them a brief lecture on the 
folly of diagnosing nearly every obscure case of sickness in cattle as 
either horn ail or tail ail. The doctors who had attended the ox were 
present, took the lecture kindly, and admitted that the patient might 
have been saved by a timely removal of the calculus. 
This case is an admonition to the owners of stock that at least one 
competent Veterinary Surgeon should occupy a radius of ten miles 
within every thickly settled agricultural district throughout our land, so 
that our poor brutes would no longer be subject to the useless and cruel 
barbarities that are practiced upon them by ignorant and conceited 
practitioners. 
Rochester, Sept. 13, 1877. 
P. S.—I omitted to mention that the calculus removed from the 
horse was about the size of an ordinary hickory nut.—E. M. 
OBSTRUCTION OF THE URETHRA. 
On the 16th ult. I was called to see one of a pair of coach horses, 
the property of George W. Lyman, Esq. The coachman said that the 
animal had trouble in passing urine, and that there was a swelling on 
the end of the penis. On examination, I found the terminal end of the 
urethra projecting beyond the glans penis nearly an inch, and the canal 
obstructed ; with the nail of the small finger I was able to feel a hard 
substance, which I presumed to be a calculus, firmly impacted; as the 
animal was of a nervous temperament, and irritable, I was satisfied that 
it could not be removed unless he was thrown down and secured ; as it 
was nearly dark, the operation was postponed until the next day. On 
the 17th he was cast ; after drawing out the penis, 1 attempted, with 
forceps, to remove the mass entire, but was not able to do it ; I then in¬ 
troduced one blade of the forceps between the mucous membrane of the* 
urethra and the calculus ; then, with the thumb for the fulcrum, the 
handle of the forceps for a lever, a small piece was broken off, which 
