392 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



foresaw I should have a very tioublesorne case, unless I could hit 

 upon some plan of dilating the sphincter so as to allow of a return 

 of the tumor without so much handling of it. This I accom- 

 plished in the following manner : I had the mare placed in a nar- 

 row stall, the back part of which was well bedded with litter, so 

 that, in standing, her hind quarters were elevated six or eight 

 inches higher than the fore ones. I then procured a pair of glove- 

 sticks, such as glovers use for opening the fingers of gloves, and, 

 ha\ ing dipped their ends in oil, gently introduced them about an 

 inch or an inch and a half into the rectum, underneath the tumor, 

 letting it, in fact, rest upon them. In this way, by pressing the 

 handles, dilatation took place, and the tumor receded with little or 

 no difficulty. This treatment I persevered in for four days, in 

 conjunction with a constant application of cold water to the parts, 

 at the end of which time such great improvement had taken place 

 that the use of the sticks became no longer necessary. In four 

 days more the parts appeared to have become quite reinstated, 

 which, of course, rendered any further treatment unnecessary. I 

 gave no medicine, except a very mild aperient in the first instance, 

 but kept the bowels lax with bran, linseed, carrots, etc. The mare 

 being sold shortly afterward, I lost sight of her, and am unable to 

 say, in consequence, whether any return of the difficulty has taken 

 place, but I should think such an occurrence not improbable " 



Pricking or Nicking Horses' Tails. 



The English method of nicking horses is, instead of inserting a 

 knife and making a subcutaneous section of the muscles of the 

 tail, known as the depressors, to make three straight incisions at 

 equal distances right across the tail. By this method the muscles 

 of the tail are effectually or completely divided. The first incision 

 is usually made about two inches from the root of the tail, and 

 the other two at equal distances from the first, in a direction toward 

 the end of the tail. The tail is then kept perpendicular, in the 

 usual manner, by pulleys. It is said that by this method a more 

 graceful curvature of the tail is secured, which I believe is a fact, 

 fet the operation is any thing but pleasant to the horse. It is me 

 of the fashionable barbarisms of civilization. 



The English method of nicking, although the most unsightly 

 and Darbarous, is still the safest, as there is less liability to lock- 



