NEUROTOMY. 203 



the exostosis. Mr. Tombs did not learn the result of the operation 

 until his return to England (in 1831); when he was informed that 

 the lameness had vanished three days after the operation, and that 

 the mare had, since, run three races, and had been sold. And that 

 at the (then) present time she was doing sharp work, free entirely 

 from lameness. — VETERINARIAN, vol. iv, p. 542-3. 



The next case will shew that when ringbone prevails on one 

 side, or is confined thereto, only the nerve on that side need be 

 operated on. 



In July 1836, Mr. Morris, V.S., Bideford, Devonshire, was 

 requested by C. Radley, Esq., surgeon, of Newton Abbot, to look 

 at a lame mare of his. She was four years old, and had two ring- 

 bones, one upon the near fore leg, the other upon the near hind. 

 The exostosis first appeared when she was a twelvemonth old. 

 (Does not this fact, along with many analogous ones, militate in 

 favour of the hereditary nature of ringbone ]) She had been seve- 

 ral times fired and blistered in both her (ringboned) legs by a 

 farrier previously to Mr. Morris coming to reside at Bideford. 

 She was (now) lame only in the near fore leg. " Having atten- 

 tively examined her," continues Mr. Morris, " I was convinced 

 that the seat of lameness was confined to the outer side of the 

 pastern. I recommended that she be nerved, to which the 

 owner assented. Having prepared her, on the 6th July I per- 

 formed the operation on the outer side only. The wound soon 

 healed, and a month after, I had the pleasure of seeing her trot and 

 gallop perfectly sound. Mr. Radley rides her, when visiting his 

 patients, upon all kinds of roads, and says * she never stumbles,' 

 and that he prefers riding her to either of his horses." — VETERI- 

 NARIAN, vol. X, p. 201. 



For CONTRACTED Hoofs, viewing them in the light of idio- 

 pathic disease, or as being the immediate cause of the existing 

 lameness, in the uninflamed condition of the foot, and when conse- 

 quential changes of its orgasm have taken place which bid defi- 

 ance to therapeutic measures, neurotomy is a warrantable resource. 

 Indeed, regarding the contraction as mechanically occasioning lame- 

 ness by the pressure of the sides or heels of the hoof upon the sides 

 or sensible parts of the foot, the freedom and boldness which neuro- 



