A CLEVER OPERATION 133 



and, as the suppurating matter could not escape, 

 and the discharge continuing, an opening was made 

 beneath the skin low down in the shoulder, about 

 sixteen inches below the wound, a seton was passed 

 through, and a vent found for the discharge. After 

 a time it was discovered that the bone was diseased 

 from being so long in contact with feculent matter, 

 when with great dexterity and courage Mr. Lepper 

 actually sazued away tiuo pieces of the spinal pi'ocess, 

 each as large as my thumb. Eventually, after more 

 than six weeks of unremitting care, the bone 

 became sound, the wound healed, and the patient 

 found no detriment whatever from the operation. 

 It destroyed, however, much of the mare's beauty, 

 as it formed a hollow depression nearly an inch in 

 depth, and three inches in length, close to the point 

 of her fine shoulders. The celebrated V.S., 

 Mr. Major, saw her afterwards, and said it was an 

 unique operation, and one of the most successful 

 he had ever witnessed. I rode her for nine 

 seasons, never having had a fall, when one day, in 

 a run with the Baron's hounds near Aston Clinton, 

 the pack was going at a good pace towards Buck- 

 land, when I jumped a small fence out of a paddock, 

 and landed in a rather boggy place. The mare 

 struggled out, and, after going over another fence 

 into a big grass field, began to kick most vio- 

 lently, which she had never done before. On 

 dismounting, she seemed perfectly mad : her eyes 

 flashed, she was striking out viciously with her 

 near hind leg, whilst I had the greatest difficulty in 



