272 



A DICTIONARY. 



turned back ; and a circular incision may 

 then be made through the muscles, etc., 

 taldng up by ligature such vessels, both 

 venous and arterial, as display a disposition 

 for much ha:>morrhage. The section thus 

 made, free the bone from the soft parts by 

 the scalpel, where the adherences are very 

 intimate ; and having by means of a crucial 

 bandage retracted the soft parts altogether 

 above the bone, saw it through. Finally, 

 effectually secure the principal vessels, 

 when, bringing the soft parts and skin over 

 the bone, retain them there by proper band- 

 aging, which suffer to remain without dis- 

 turbance until the thu*d or fourth day. 



'■'■Amputation of the Penis. — Amputation 

 of the penis is not unknown among us : it 

 has been performed several times, and it is 

 found that no canula is necessary to keep 

 open the urethra : the force of the urinary 

 flow breaking down any incipent cicatriza- 

 tion of its orifice. The sheath is first forced 

 back, and the penis brought forward to its 

 greatest possible extent: whatever portion 

 it is intended to remove is now cut through 

 by means of an amputating knife; when 

 the remainder is retracted within the sheath, 

 and little haemorrhage has afterwards oc- 

 curred, except at the time of passing the 

 urine ; but there appears to have been no 

 alarming quantity of blood lost. 



^^ Amputation of the Tail, or Docking-. — 

 We are most happy to state this filthy and 

 unnecessary operation is now discarded. It 

 never consisted of more than the cutting off 

 a portion of the stump with brute force, and 

 the cruel application afterwards of a hot 

 iron to the small artery of the tail. 



" Nicking'. — We should be grateful that 

 this barbarous and dangerous process is no 

 longer numbered among the necessary oper- 

 ations. It is so beset with accidents which 

 no skill or prudence can prevent, that no 

 one who has a free will ought to mutilate a 

 horse by nicking. 



'■'■Firing. — The practice of firing was not 

 always confined to quadrupeds ; on the con- 

 trary, it probably was first used on man ; 

 and to this day in many countries it is a 

 very popular remedy among human sur- 



geons. In India it is applied over the abdo- 

 men for the cure of scirrhosity of the liver. 

 Firing in veterinary practice has, by Mr. 

 Coleman's pupils, been justified as only men 

 will justify a favorite operation, the virtues 

 of which have been impressed upon their 

 minds by an eloquent teacher. When Cole- 

 man was the chief of the veterinary profes- 

 sion, fuing under his rule was used for any 

 and every occasion. It was ridiculously 

 supposed to act as a permanent bandage ; as 

 if a few strokes with a heated iron could 

 destroy the elastic property inherent in the 

 skin. It was the favorite styptic of these 

 practitioners, and was applied to arteries (as 

 of the tail), as though it possessed within 

 itself some medicinal virtue. It was used 

 to promote absorption, as in callus ; and was 

 lilcewise resorted to to check absorption, as 

 in ulceration. It was called into action to 

 promote granulation, in broken knees ; and 

 was also a favorite agent to check granula- 

 tions, when they were too luxm-iant. In 

 short, there was no folly which a hot iron did 

 not cover. It has now happily fallen into 

 disuse. Most modern practitioners will 

 now confess that their chief reason for exer- 

 cising the iron is to satisfy the proprietor, 

 not to benefit the animal. After such an 

 acknowledgment, who would submit to have 

 his patient servant's skin scored and burnt 

 with red hot metal ? 



" The mode of cauterization differs accord- 



ing to circumstances. 



As a general rule it 



ought, of course, to be applied in the direc- 

 tion of the hair, by which the blemish is 

 lessened : but this rule cannot be arbitrarily 

 followed, although it ought to do away with 

 all the false pride of displaying the taste in 

 the figures scored upon a prostrate beast. 

 The Veterinary College recommends that 

 the limbs be always fired in perpendicular 

 lines ; others advocate all manner of fanci- 

 ful marks. Some cast the horse ; many 

 surgeons perform standing. The irons used 

 are of various shapes and dimensions. 

 Some recommend the firing of all things to 

 be very light ; others persist there is no vir- 

 tue in hot iron unless it burns very deep. 

 The operation consists in having irons of 



