212 NEUROTOMY. 



irritating it, will set the animal struggling from pain, and thus 

 most satisfactorily clear up every question of identity. All that 

 remains to be done is to divide the nerve ; and this is done better 

 with a sharp bistoury than with either knife or scissors. Take 

 care that such division be made as high up as the wound in the 

 skin will permit, the object of this being two-fold; — 1st, that 

 thereby sensation is at once cut off, which it would not have been 

 had the nerve been, first, divided below ; and, secondly, that the 

 excision of the requisite portion of the nerve — say an inch or so — 

 (which is most conveniently effected by seizing hold of the lower 

 end of it with the forceps) may not occasion the animal the slightest 

 pain or inconvenience. Sutures may be employed or not to close 

 the wound ; and this finishes the operation on the inner side. And 

 now it may become a question in the operator's mind whether or 

 not he will proceed further than this, and operate upon the outer 

 side of the leg as well. Cases, well authenticated, stand on re- 

 cord, in which the disease of foot appeared to prevail on the inner 

 side, wherein one operation proved sufficient. At all events, 

 should any such notions be present with the operator, there can be 

 no great harm in making the experiment — suffering the horse to 

 rise out of his shackles, and trotting him, to ascertain what amount 

 of benefit has been conferred by the single operation. Should 

 which not prove satisfactory, the animal can be thrown again, this 

 time upon his opposite side, to undergo the same operation on the 

 outer side of the leg. 



On the other hand, should it be determined from the first to 

 operate upon both sides of the pastern, and which in the majority of 

 cases appears indispensable, as soon as one operation is concluded 

 and the wound sewn up, the animal, as he lies, must be turned 

 over ; unless both (fore) legs require neurotomy, and then, before 

 he is turned over, the outer side of the other leg may — after the 

 operated leg has been returned to the hobbles, and the one to be 

 operated upon separated and secured — be incised, and treated in 

 the manner already directed, there being no essential difference 

 between the inner and outer operations. 



A Transverse Incision through the Skin, instead of the 



