EMIinVuTitMY. 545 



it must not be fortjotten that eiubryotomy is itself an extreme measure, 

 which should only be adopted when every other fails or seems to be 

 really hopeless. 



One or both of the fore or hind limbs may be required to be ampu- 

 tated, according to circumstance. In the earlier days of veterinary 

 science, the obstetrist was content to pull at the limb of the fu'tus 

 which he wished to remove, either by meclianical or manual power, 

 until it was torn off by brute-force. Fromage de Fcugri"- mentions 

 that Texier had in this manner torn away the limbs of many Foals 

 which he could not extract — the separation of the limb always taking 

 place between the chest and scapula, by rupture of the muscles uniting 

 these two parts ; and he asserts that by this procedure he was able to 

 save many Mares — though he says nothing as to the suffering of these 

 before the limbs could be torn from the body. 



Subsequently, it was discovered tliat the skin offered most resistance 

 to this kind of avulsion — the muscles and ligaments being much more 

 easily torn. Then the knife was employed to incise the skin, and thus 

 get rid of the chief dilliculty. On the Continent, in amputating a fore- 

 limb, for instance, the skin and muscles were divided as near the 

 shoulder as possible, and the bones, united by their ligaments and 

 covered by the skin, separated by traction. Skellet,^ in his crude and 

 imperfect work published in 1807, writes : " Take a sharp knife, and cut 

 from the point of each shoulder of the Calf to the muscular or tliick 

 part of the fore-leg ; then cut round it, so as to enable the operator to 

 skin the upper part of the shoulder. A knife is then to be conveyed 

 between the shoulder and brisket, so as to cut the muscles which unite 

 them. When so done, the leg and shoulder may be easily pulled off 

 from its body. The other fore-leg, etc., is to be taken off in the same 

 way." But the subcutaneous method of excision was greatly facilitated 

 by the directions published in Giinthei-'s work in 18130, and also by the 

 publication of the procedure of Huvellier- in the same year ; while the 

 jiarent was protected from some of the dangers and pain which attended 

 the old plan. Since the introduction of this method, it has been 

 adopted by every obstetrist of note, who has either kept to the original 

 procedure, or modified it to suit his own fancy or convenience. 



Ampiitatioyi of the Fore-limbs. 



In order to amputate a fore-limb, it must be more or less advanced in 

 the vagina, or partially beyond the vulva. So that, if it is still in the 

 uterus, it must first be removed therefrom and brought into the canal. 

 If both limbs are to be removed, they must be secured by cords around 

 the pastern in the ordinary manner, the cord of the one which is to be 

 first excised being pulled at by two, three, or four assistants, so as to 

 draw it as near, or as much beyond, the vulva as possible. Another 

 assistant then keeps the labia wide apart, in order to allow the operator 

 more room. A circular incision is made above the fetlock — or, better 

 still, the knee, taking care not to go deeper than the skin. From this 

 incision, gliding his hand into the vagina, along the limb, the operator 

 gradually makes a longitudinal one, extending higher up as the leg 

 becomes elongated by the traction. 



Some practitioners make this incision on the inner aspect of the limb, 



> A Prnctiral Treadle on the Parturition of the Coir. London, 1807. 

 - Htcueil dt Jlakcine Vet(rinairc, l:?30, p. 449. 



35 



