488 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOB. 



By pressing on the jugular vein along the neck, below the spot select, 

 td for the incision, it will soon rise up prominently . In bleeding, always 

 make the incision in the line of the vein, never across it. Make the in- 

 cision large, but never through both walls of the vein. When sufficient 

 blood has been taken, raise the lips of the vein between the fingers, thrust 

 a pin through and vnnd some thread dipped in the blood about it to 



hold it. 



In staggers and diseases of the brain, it is usual to bleed in the roof of 

 the mouth. 



Whenever a horse is to be bled, it is better to blindfold him, since it 

 prevents his starting, and thus causing a miss with the lancet or fleam in 

 the hands of an inexpert person. 



m. Tracheotomy. 



The operation of tracheotomy consists in cutting down into the wind- 

 pipe, in all desperate cases "where the animal is likely to suffocate for 

 want of breath. In bad cases of strangles, or other obstruction to breath- 

 ing, it is sometimes necessary to save the life of the animal, and there is 

 no time to wait for a surgeon. 



How to do it. — Have an assistant hold the horse's head high, with the 

 nose extended, so as to best stretch the skin of the neck. Then feeling 

 along the neck for that part least covered with flesh, make a bold in- 

 cision with a sharp knife — one with a round point, and thin, being prefer- 

 able. Make the incision about four inches long, and along the central line 

 of the windpipe, and down to it. Then with a sharp-pointed knife pierce 

 one of the upper exposed rings of the windpipe, cut downward along the 

 central line, dividing two or three of them ; introduce a tracheotomy 

 tube, which has a movable collar to prevent going in too far, and fasten 

 its strings around the neck to hold it in place. The spout of a tea-kettle 

 has been extemporized as a tube, and with good effect. This tube must 

 be allowed to remain until the animal can breathe through the nostrils, 

 when the wound may be sewn up and treated as any other clean cut. 



IV. Periosteotomy. 



This is cutting down to the bone, and through the periosteum, the ner-i 

 Tous vascular membrane immediately investing the bone, and which in 

 fccalth has little or no sensibility, but which in disease of the bones is ex- 

 ceedingly sensitive. It is sometimes performed in inflammation of the 

 shank bone, when exudation has taken place between the membrane and 

 bone, giving rise to thickening and the formation of bony matter. 



