724 



Popular Science Monthly 



patients have recovered sufificiently to 

 take exercise they are allowed the 

 privilege of a specially designed roof- 

 garden, but only for the number of 

 hours prescribed by the doctor. 



Because of their size and weight, the 

 handling of wounded or sick horses has 

 always presented a difficult problem. 

 That problem has been most admirably 

 solved in the hospital of the American 

 Society. As soon as a horse has met 

 with an accident in the street a police- 

 man or the driver immediately sends for 

 one of the A. S. P. C. A. ambulances. 

 A big automobile ambulance responds, 

 and the ambulance surgeon gives what 

 aid he can. The running-board of the 

 ambulance is drawn out. It is but the 

 work of a minute to rope the horse's 

 feet. At a given signal the ambulance 

 attendants pull the ropes, thereby turn- 

 ing the horse over, so that he lands on 

 the running-board. He is then firmly 

 strapped to the board, and an electric 

 motor inside the 

 ambulance hauls 

 the running-board 

 back into place. 

 While on his w^ay 

 to the hospital the 

 horse is as com- 

 fortable as possi- 

 ble. When the am- 

 bulance reaches the 

 hospital it is driven 

 on a large elevator 

 which takes it up 

 to the top floor, 

 where the operat- 

 ing room is situ- 

 ated. If the horse 

 is unable to walk, 

 a sling is passed 

 around him while 

 he is still attached 

 to the running- 

 board. The sling 

 Is then fastened to 

 a trolley which 

 leads into the op- 

 erating room. He 

 is laid upon the 

 table without once 

 having had to 

 make the effort to 

 stand. 



When the ani- 



A view in one of the wards. The horse 

 which the surgeon is dressing was seriously 

 wounded by backing into a large steel hook 

 which tore through the flesh of his tail 

 and came out over his hip. He is a valuable 

 cavalry horse and is the favorite mount of 

 one of our colonels. Although his injuries 

 were such that he had to submit to an 

 operation, he will soon be back doing what 

 he can for preparedness 



mal's wounds have been dressed, he 

 is trolleyed out of the operating 

 room and into the ward and placed 

 in one of the stalls. A horse which 

 cannot stand is slung up and kept in the 

 sling until he regains the use of his feet. 

 The operating table is fascinatingly 

 ingenious. The horse is made to recline 

 on a cushioned frame. Although per- 

 fectly comfortable he is so firmly 

 strapped in the frame that he cannot 

 hurt himself by kicking or struggling. 

 The table can be raised or lowered by a 

 lever, so that the surgeon may perform 

 his work as easily and as expeditiously as 

 possible. 



Dr. T. S. Childs, the surgeon at the 

 head of the hospital, has performed some 

 remarkable operations on horses. One 

 of his charges was a famous racer which 

 had fractured the bone above the hoof. 

 When the horse was placed on the 

 operating table Dr. Childs found that 

 the bone was so badly fractured that it 

 had penetrated the 

 skin; aside from 

 being broken the 

 animal's leg was 

 badly lacerated by 

 the bone. Part of 

 the bone had to be 

 removed, after 

 which the leg was 

 set. The leg was 

 then placed in a 

 plaster cast in 

 which a small hole 

 was left for drain- 

 ingthewound. The 

 patient was sup- 

 ported in a sling 

 but he appeared so 

 unhappy that the 

 doctor allowed him 

 the liberty of a 

 large box stall, one 

 of the hospital's 

 "private rooms." 

 There he finally re- 

 covered. This 

 horse was very in- 

 telligent and seem- 

 ed to realize that 

 everything was be- 

 ing done for his 

 comfort. He took 

 the best of care of 



