SECUKINfi S(JLIPEDS. 53 



need of assistant. 4th. No assistants are needed to be exposed 

 to danger, and the responsibility of the operator is diminished. 

 5th. Economy of time. 6th. Economy of material and space for 

 the performance of the ordinary operation of casting. 



In this country several forms of tables are in use. Those of 

 Dr. Tiffany, Price and others, all of which are constructed somewhat 

 upon the same principles with respect to the action of an iron 

 crank to control the position of the table. Doctors Hodgson & 

 Magee, both veterinarians of New York, have invented a table which 

 for simplicity seems to siu*pass any one we have yet seen (Fig. 40). 

 Like the others, it has slings, ropes, hobbles, pads, etc., but dif- 

 fers from them in two important particulars. The first is the 

 manner in which the table is lowered and raised ; the second, the 

 manner in which the hobbles are secured and made immovable. 

 In the middle of the superior border of the table, and directly 

 below it on the posterior face, are two solid iron rings. In the 

 ceiling of the operating room, or on the cross-piece of the frame 

 in which it is enclosed, and directly opposite that in the border of 

 the table there is another. Another is fixed in the floor some dis- 

 tance back of the frame upon which the table rests when in a 

 horizontal position. To these rings two systems of j)ulleys are 

 attached, one connecting that in the ceiling with that in the bor- 

 der of the table ; the other connecting the ring on the posterior 

 face of the table with that in the floor. Besides this, under the 

 table are two strong u'on eyelets through which chains are passed, 

 which at one end are secured to the hobbles by openings through 

 the table, and at the other are secm-ed from slipping through the 

 ring by a wide T arrangement, secured on the last link. These 

 chains measure the distance which exists between the rings on the 

 floor and the table when in a horizontal jDOsition. 



When the horse is brought alongside the table and tied up 

 with the sHngs, the halters and head-straps securing him, and the 

 hobbles being in place, the rope of the upper piilley is pulled by 

 an assistant, and the table moved slowly into the jjroper position. 

 The rope being then fastened to the ring in the floor, the table is 

 immovable. Upon the completion of the operation the rope is 

 gradually slackened, while an assistant pulls on the rope of the 

 base of the table which is thus restored to the vertical position. 



