OPERATIONS. 



557 



QUILLED SUTURE. 



keep it from drawing away and untying; then go on and make a hard 

 knot on the top of the other, and cut off the silk. Then take another, 

 and so on. 



The continuous or uninterrupted suture sews 

 up the wound by continuing the stitches right 

 along, the same as in sewing cloth, and tying the 

 ends. The quilled suture is when two quills or 

 pieces of wood are used as skewers, and the ends 

 of the silk caught over them, the skewers being 

 placed one on each side of the wound, to prevent 

 the stitches from tearing out. The twisted suture 

 is simply a pin inserted and a hair or silk thread 

 wound around its ends in the form of a figure 

 eight, as already descril^ed in the article on 

 bleeding. In most cases, the stitches ought to 

 be taken about half an inch a})art. 



XIX. Tapping the Belly for Flatulence. 

 It is usually either some of the large intestines or the stomach that is 

 affected with flatulence. The former are tapped by inserting the trocar 

 and cannula in the center of a triangle drawn from the point of the hip, 

 the ends of the transverse processes of the lumbar verteln-je and the last 

 rib. Clip off' the hair from a spot half an inch in diameter, brush the scurf 

 from the skin and make a i)uncture through the skin with a knife, then pass 

 in the trocar and cannula, directing it inward, downward and forward; 

 withdraw the trocar and leave the cannula to carry of ,the gas. After the 

 gas has escaped replace the trocar into the cannula before withdrawing it. 

 Wet this wound several times a day with lotion No. 5 for three or four 

 days. This operation may be rei)eated, if necessary, and on either side of 

 the horse. The trocar for this purpose should be six inches long and one- 

 quarter inch in diameter. 



XX. Tenotomy. 

 When the tendons become very much contracted and cannot l)e relaxed, 

 they can be severed, when the ends will extend, grow together again, and 

 thus repair the excision. This o})eration, called tenotomy, is most commonly 

 practiced on the tendon of the leg, and about midway between the knee and 

 fetlock. Insert the knife across the tendons, with the l)lade on its side; let 

 it go just to the skin on the other side, liut not through it; then turn the 

 edge towards the outer part of the leg and saw away, taking care not to 

 cut the skin at the back of the leg. When the tendons are severed, break 

 up the adhesions by bending the leg across your knee. Dress the wound 

 in the skin, treating as a simple wound. 



