NEUROTOMY. 89 



Store the foot, except so far as feeling is concerned, to its natu- 

 ral condition. In doing this, he is now permitted to use appli- 

 ances which humanity would have prevented him from resorting 

 to, before the sensibility of the part was destroyed. Some of 

 these will be hereafter adverted to. 



The principle of neurotomy is plain and simple — it is the re- 

 moval of pain. In this light, it is a noble operation, and one 

 m which every humane person will rejoice. But it may be 

 abused. . If no contemporaneous means are adopted to cure the 

 disease of the foot — if in canker, or quittor, or inflammation of 

 the laminsB, for example, no means are used to lessen the con- 

 cussion and pressure — ^the destruction of the part, and the uttei 

 ruin of the horse, are the inevitable consequences. The primary 

 result is the removal of pain. It is for the operator to calculate 

 the bearing of this on the actual disease, and the future useful- 

 ness of the animal. 



The excised portion of the nerve is again reproduced, but the 

 tune in which this is effected has not been tested by any definite 

 experiments. With the restoration of the nerve, the lameness 

 and pain return, unless the cause is removed. 



Can the horse that has undergone the operation of neurotomy 

 be afterwards passed as sound ? Most certainly not.* [See Un- 

 soundness.] ' 



* Note by Mr. Spooner. — The operation has sometiines fallen into disrepute 

 from having been performed on improper cases, or from the horse having 

 afterwards been unduly worked. It should never be performed on a weak, 

 flat, or convex foot, as the danger from concussion, pricks from shoeing, 

 and other injuries, is great, and ia still further increased by the operation 

 in question. It also should not be performed for diseases of the fetlock 

 joint, nor when the feet are exceedingly contracted ; for, in the former 

 case, the inflammation of the fetlock wUl soon extend above the seat of 

 operation on the renewal of work ; and, in the latter case, the disposition 

 to expansion will be so great from the horse treading boldly on his heels 

 that inflammation will result from the pressure of the soft parts against 

 the horny crust, and enlargement and disorganization will be likely to fol- 

 low. The best cases for the operation are those where the foot is strong 

 and but little contracted. The horse should be worked moderately and 

 steadily afterwards, either at a foot pace or a steady trot. He should not 

 be nsed for hunting ; as, in alighting from a leap, the diseased sinew, in 

 passing over the navicular bone, to which it often becomes -morbidly united, 

 sometipies snaps or ruptures, and the horse is rendered useless. For the 

 same reason, the horse shoujd not be turned out to grass, as the same re- 

 sult may happen from playfulness. A result which sometimes attends this 

 operation is, that when the horse has been previously disposed to overreach 

 or clack his hind shoes against his fore ones, this disposition is afterwards 

 greatly increased, from the leg operated on not being moved out of the way 

 of the hind-leg so rapidly as it should be. 



Neurotomy is usually performed a few inches above the fetlock joint. 

 Some novices have performed it midway between the fetlock joint and the 

 knee, and been much surprised to find that the lameness still continued, 



