CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON OPERATIONS. 



The word operation covers all mechanical interference undertaken 

 for surgical purposes. Perfect restoration of function being usually 

 demanded in veterinar}^ surgery, many operations common in human 

 practice must either be renounced or very seldom performed, partial 

 recovery being worse than useless from the owner's standpoint. It is 

 therefore often necessary to consider whether operation is justified or 

 whether slaughter be not preferable. Owners as a class have quite 

 erroneous impressions of the results to be expected. Many are not 

 satisfied even when the animal's usefulness is completel}' restored 

 because perhaps a trifling blemish remains. Some seem incapable of 

 understanding that a certain time is necessary for recovery. Thej'' 

 imagine that healing can be forced, become impatient, and in a few 

 moments destroy by clums}^ interference, or too early use of the animal, 

 the results of weeks of skill, afterwards seeking to hold the operator 

 answerable. In veterinary surgery the conditions for rapid healing are 

 much less favourable than in human practice. The imperfect sanitary 

 surroundings, the confinement in an air thick with micro-organisms, 

 the active opposition of the animal, and the impossibility of shielding 

 the wound from injurious external mfluences, as in human surger}', 

 often render success impossible even with the greatest care and fullest 

 perfection of detail. 



Division. — Operations are divided according to varying circum- 

 stances. Those requiring the use of the hands alone are sometimes 

 known as manual operations ; the terms dressing and instrumental 

 operations explain themselves. We speak also of elementary or 

 compound, bloodless or sanguinar}^, regular or irregular ; of urgent 



I 



