252 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



Let people neurotomize horses for incurable lameness, for 

 the relief of pain which no other means can accomplish, and we 

 call them philanthropists — the handmaids of nature. But when 

 neurotomy is resorted to for the purpose of forcing nature to teem 

 with deformities, it should be set aside as a curse to the four- 

 footed race ; and its advocates should be rebuked. We consider 

 an unsound animal, as the mare evidently was, just about as 

 valuable for breeding purposes, in view of perfect symmetry of 

 form, endurance, and long life, as a diseased potato would be for 

 the production of a succession of perfect germs and a supply of 

 healthy food for man. The deformities of the parent, and the 

 imperfections of the vegetable germ, may not at once appear ; but 

 the day of reckoning must come ere many generations have passed 

 away, or many harvests have been gathered ; and if nature con- 

 demns the one to barrenness and the other to premature decay, 

 it is done to assert her empire. In justice to the talented author 

 just quoted, w r e remark, that the practice of neurotomy for the 

 purpose to which we allude does not receive his advocacy : he 

 merely observes, that neurotomy has other objects besides the 

 removal of lameness; and introduces a case from the pen of 

 another individual by way of illustration. 



As regards the success of the operation in the United States, 

 when performed by qualified persons, so far as the author has 

 been able to ascertain, it has been quite as successful as in the old 

 world ; and there is no reason why it should not be, when practised 

 by qualified veterinary surgeons. 



We now come to describe the operation of neurotomy; and we 

 recommend that, in all operations of this kind, the subject be 

 etherized, not only in view of preventing pain, but that we may, 

 in the absence of all struggling on the part of our patient, perform 

 the operation satisfactorily, and in much less time after etheriza- 

 tion has taken place than otherwise. So soon as the patient is 

 under the influence of that valuable agent, we have nothing to fear 

 from his struggles, provided we have the assistance of one expe- 

 rienced to administer it. We generally use a mixture of chloro- 

 form and chloric ether in our operations, and consider it far 

 preferable, so far as the life of the patient is concerned, to pure 

 chloroform. 



