185 



NEUROTOMY. 



NEUROTOMY — compounded of two Greek words, viz. te/xvw to 

 cut, and vfu^ov a nerve — was, at the suggestion of that warm- 

 Iiearted and revered friend of the veterinary profession, the late 

 Dr. Geo. Pearson, introduced by me, in my "Lectures," in the 

 year 1823, as an appropriate appellation for what commonly went 

 by the name of " unnerving," and sometimes by that of " nerving:** 

 phrases which, besides being untechnical, were neither of them 

 definite or distinctive enough in their meaning for professional 

 use. 



Definition. Neurotomy, as the operation is now understood, 

 may be defined to be, the division of a nervous cord, and the 

 subsequent excision of a portion of it, with the view of removing 

 pain through the destruction of feeling. The 'plantar nerves are 

 those commonly operated on ; but any nervous cord of the body 

 may, if occasion call for it, become the subject of neurotomy. 



The Purpose for which Neurotomy is performed is, 

 usually, the removal of lameness ; though the operation may 

 have, and has had, other objects. And the lameness the most 

 certainly and the most effectually removed by it, is foot-lameness, 

 and especially of a navicularthritic description : hence the reason 

 of the account of neurotomy being consecutive to that of navi- 

 cularthritis. 



The Introduction of Neurotomy into Veterinary Me- 

 dicine is comparatively of modern date. For years before, the 

 division of nerves had been practised by human surgeons, in 

 particular for the relief of that most painful of all painful affec- 

 tions, tic doloureux ; but there is no mention of any application of 

 the operation in veterinary surgery prior to the time of Moorcroft ; 

 nor was it until Professor Sewell had announced himself as, and 

 was acknowledged to be, the discoverer of neurotomy for 

 the removal of lameness, that Moorcroft, who had left 

 England for India, came forward and advanced his claims to that 



VOL TV. B b 



