CHAPTER III. 



OPERATING TABLES. 



As a means of restraint in the recnmbent posture, the 

 Equine Operating Table occupies an important position; how- 

 ever, the operating table, as with the stocks, as a means of 

 restraint, has its advocates as well as its adversaries. Some 

 prominent surgeons of this and other countries are flattering 

 in their praise of the table, while other practitioners of equal 

 prominence and like experience are severe in their condemna- 

 tion of the table as a means of restraint. Many have con- 

 demned all tables in general without subjecting even a single 

 one of them to a fair and impartial trial. Others have con- 

 demned all tables because one table in their hands chanced to 

 be defective in design, hence unsatisfactory. Some practition- 

 ers have even objected to the table because it is stationary and 

 not sufficiently light or small to be carried with them from 

 call to call. Another objection is the inconvenience or impossi- 

 bility of putting some fractious or nervous animals on the table 

 or because it cannot be used under all circumstances and condi- 

 tions. They even dislike it because it occupies too much space 

 in the operating room, and requires two or more assistants to 

 successfully handle a large and strong horse on account of the 

 equine operating table not yet being a "one man" affair. 



The author being more or less acquainted and familiar with 

 several different designs of operating tables, their advantages 

 as well as their disadvantages, has no hesitancy in saying that 

 the twentieth century practitioner of veterinary surgery cannot 

 any longer afford to be influenced either by prejudice on the 

 part of himself, or the adverse opinions of other people, to de- 

 prive himself of the advantages afforded by a properly con- 

 structed and modernly equipped equine operating table. Such 

 tables are now manufactured and sold at reasonable prices, and 

 their use and value to the surgeon should not be underestimated. 



Professor Louis A. ^lerillat says: "The greatest advantage 

 of the operating table in this connection is the leisurely manner 



