472 TJtAClIEOTOMV. 



The principle of lU'iirotomy is plain and simple — it is the remocal of 

 pain. Taken on this 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 adojjted — if in canker, or quittor, no means are used to lessen 

 the concussion and the pressure — the destruction of the part and the 

 utter ruin of the horse are the inevitable 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 ojDeration of neurotomy. At the 

 expiration of a certain 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 after- 

 wards passed as sound ? Most certainly not. There is altered, impaired 

 structui'e ; there is impaii-ed action ; and there is the possibility of the 

 return of lameness at some indefinite period. He has been diseased. He 

 most probably is diseased now ; but the pain being removed, there are no 

 means by which the mischief can always be indicated. Besides, by the 

 very act of neurotomy, he is peculiarly exposed to various injuries and 

 affections of the foot from which he would otherwise escape. It must, 

 indeed, be borne in mind, as an invariable rule, that it is never to be had 

 recourse to till the science and skill of the veterinary practitioner has 

 utterly failed in giving relief. When disease cannot be cured, it is an act 

 of humanity to relieve the animal, if possible, from the pain and suffering 

 attendant on it : this, in well-selected cases, the operation of neurotomy 

 ■vvill generally effect ; this is its legitimate object, and with this object only 

 in view should it ever be performed. 



TRACHEOTOMY. 



The respiratory canal is occasionally obstructed, to an annoying and 

 dangerous degi-ee. Polypi have been described as occupying the nostrils ; 

 long tumours have formed in them. Tumours of other kinds have pressed 

 into the larynx. The tumour of strangles has, for a while, occupied the 

 passage. The larynx has been distorted ; the membrane of the ^vindpipe, 

 on the larynx, has been thickened, and ulcers have formed in one or both, 

 and have been so painful that the act of breathing was laborious and 

 torturing. In all these cases it has been anxiously enquired whether there 

 might not be established an artificial opening for the passage of the air, 

 when the natural one could no longer be used ; and it has been ascertained 

 that it is both a simple and safe operation, to excise a portion of the 

 t,rachea, on or below the point of obstruction. 



The operation must be performed while the horse is standing, and 

 secured by a side-line, for he would, probably, be suffocated amidst the 

 struggles with which he would resist the act of throwing. The twitch is 

 firmly fixed on the muzzle ; and an assistant holds a scalpel, a bistoury, 

 scissors, curved needles armed, and a moist sponge. 



The operator should once more examine the whole course of the wind- 

 pipe, and the different sounds which he will be able to detect by the ap- 

 plication of the ear, and likewise the different degrees of temperature 

 and of tenderness which the finger will detect, will guide to the seat of 

 the evil. 



The hair is to be closely cut off from the part, the skin tightened across 



