114 NEUROTOMY. 



never subject to periodical oestrum, and her owner lamented in vain that he could not 

 breed from her. !She underwent the operation of neurotomy, and became an excellent 

 brood mare. A stallion with many a good point about him was useless in the stud : 

 he was suffering from some disease in the feet. A portion of the nerve was excised — 

 his constitution underwent a complete change, and he became sire to a numerous and 

 valuable progeny. 



By the operation of neurotomy we destroy pain ; and we may safely calculate on 

 the simple effect of that, whether local or constitutional ; and, limiting our expecta 

 tions to this, we shall rarely be disappointed. 



The operation of neurotomy having been performed, has the veterinary surgeon 

 nothing else to do? He has got rid of the pain which attended the ossified cartilage 

 — the ring-bone and the anchylosis of the pastern and the collin-joints ; shall he be 

 satisfied with the benefit he has obtained, jjreat as it is 1 He will, or he should now 

 try whether his former means and appliances have not more power. He will see 

 whether, by means of his l)lister or his firing-iron — the effect of which humanity for- 

 bade him to put to the full test before — he cannot rouse the absorbents to increased 

 and more efficient action, and not only arrest the progress of the bony tumour, but 

 remove it. He will not merely suffer the usefulness of his patient to depend on the 

 continued suspension of feeling, but he will assure it by the partial or total removal 

 of the morbid growth . 



In contraction of the foot, shall he be satisfied with removing the agony occasioned 

 by the constant pressure of the horn on the sensitive substance interposed between it 

 and the coffin-bone ] vShall he leave future improvement to the slow process of 

 nature, or shall he not take advantage of the insensibility which he has produced, and 

 pare the sole thoroughly out, and msp the quarters to the very quick, and apply the 

 imfettered shoe ? \^ hen he has produced a disposition to contraction, and some deGcree 

 of it, should he not actively blister the coronets, and use all other fitting means to 

 hasten the growth of the horn to its pristine dimensions and its original quality ■? 



In navicular disease, after he has removed, by the application of neurotomy, that 

 irritation which had so much to do with the perpetuation, if not the origin, of the 

 complaint, should he not, with tlie assured hope of success, pass his seton needle 

 through the frog, in order to get rid of every remaining lurking tendency to inflamma- 

 tion ■? The blister and the firing-iron will have as much power in abating inflamma- 

 tion and producing a healthy state of the foot, after that foot had been rendered insen- 

 sible to pain, as it had before. We should fearlessly say that it would have much 

 more effect, one grand source of irritation having been removed. The veterinary sur 

 geon and the owner of the horse are becoming more and more convinced of this ; and 

 the dawning of a better day has commenced. 



The principle of neurotomy is plain and simple — it is ihc removal of pain. Taken 

 on tliis ground, it is a noble operation. It is that in which every friend of humanity 

 will rejoice. It may be abused. If no auxiliary means are adopted — if in canker or 

 quitter, or inflammation of the laminae, no means are used to lessen the concussion 

 and tlie pressure — the destruction of the part and the utter ruin of the horse are the 

 inf viable consequences. The primary result is the removal of pain. It is for the 

 operator to calculate the bearing of this on the actual disease, and the future usefulness 

 of the animal. 



On the question of the reproduction of the nerves there is no doubt. A horse is 

 lame, and he undergoes the operation of neurotomy. At the expiration of a ce^-tain 

 time the lameness returns, and he is probably destroyed. In the majority of cases it 

 is found that the nerves had united, or rather that a new veritable nervous substance 

 had been interposed. The time at which this is effected is unknown. There have 

 not been any definite experiments on the point. 



Can the horse that has undergone the operation of neurotomy be aftei wards passca 

 as sound? Most certainly not. There is altered, impaired structure; there ia 

 impaired action ; and there is the possibility of tlie return of lameness, at some indefi- 

 nite period. He has l)een diseased. He possibly is diseased now ; but the pain 

 being removed, there are no means by which the ruischicf can always be indicated. 

 Beside, by the very act of neurotomy, he is peculiarly exposed to various injuries anJ 

 affections of the foot from which he would otherwiseescape. 



