392 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
foresaw I should have a very tioublesome case, unless I could his 
upon some plan of dilating the sphincter so as to allow of a return 
of the tumor without so much handling of it. This I accom- 
plished in the following manner: I had the mare placed in a nar- 
row stall, the back part of which was well bedded with litter, so 
that, in standing, her hind quarters were elevated six or eight 
inches higher than the fore ones. I then procured a pair of glove- 
slicks, such as glovers use for opening the fingers of gloves, and, 
haying dipped their ends in oil, gently introduced them about an 
inch or an inch and a half into the rectum, underneath the tumor, 
letting it, in fact, rest upon them. In this way, by pressing the 
handles, dilatation took place, and the tumor receded with little or 
no difficulty. This treatment I persevered in for four days, in 
conjunction with a constant application of cold water to the parts, 
at the end of which time such great improvement had taken place 
that the use of the sticks became no longer necessary. In four 
days more the parts appeared to have become quite reinstated, 
which, of course, rendered any further treatment unnecessary. I 
gave no medicine, except a very mild aperient in the first instance, 
Sut kept the bowels lax with bran, linseed, carrots, etc. The mare 
being sold shortly afterward, I lost sight of her, and am unable to 
say, in consequence, whether any return of the difficulty has taken 
place, but I should think such an occurrence not improbable ” 
Prickine or Nickina Horses’ TalIzs. 
The English method of nicking horses is, instead of inserting a 
knife and making a subcutaneous section of the muscles of the 
tail, known as the depressors, to make three straight incisions at 
equal distances right across the tail. By this method the muscles 
of the tail are effectnally or completely divided. The first incision 
is usually made about two inches from the root of the tail, and 
the other two at equal distances from the first, in a direction toward 
the end of the tail. The tail is then kept perpendicular, in the 
usual manner, by pulleys. It is said that by this method a more 
graceful curvature of the tail is secured, which I believe is a fact, 
yet the operation is any thing but pleasant to the horse. It is oe 
of the fashionable barbarisms of civilization. 
The English method of nicking, although the most unsightly 
and parbarous, is still the safest, as there ts less liability to lock- 
