594 DADD’S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SIRGERY. 
snould the incision be made too high on the side of the tail, the 
eurvators may be partly or wholly severed. Then the tail will 
ultimately diverge laterally, or, in stable language, it will be said 
that “the horse does not carry his tail straight.” To remedy 
this, the curvator on the opposite side must be divided; then the 
tail has to be forcibly drawn and kept in an opposite direction 
from the curved side, so as to prevent the muscle from -euniting. 
In the cou:se of a short time granulations are thrown sut from 
the surface of the divided ends of the muscle. It then acquires 
length, and thus the tail becomes straight. 
ANATOMY OF THE TAIL. 
For the benefit of those who wish to practice the art of “ nick- 
ing or pricking” understandingly, I now propose to give a brief 
exposition of the anatomy of the tail. 
Bones of the Tail——The bones of the tail, numbering fifteen, 
sometimes sixteen, are situated at the back of the rump-bone, or 
sacrum. ‘They are not a continuation of the vertebral bones, but 
are an appendage to the haunch bone. The bones entire are termed 
coccyz (from the Greek, which signifies cuckoo, the bill of which 
bird the appendage to the sacrum, or haunch-bone ot man, is said 
to represent); and, in order to prevent confusion in anatomical 
terms, veterinary sig¢cons have applied the same name to the teil 
bones of the horse. Hence, when the terms coccygis or coccygeal 
are used, they have some relation to the tail. The bones are 
roughened on their surfaces, aud have depressions and eminences 
or the insertion of ligaments, tendons, and muscles. 
Muscles of the Tail.—These muscles are divisible into four pairs. 
They are most distinctly seen at the root of the tail, but, in their 
course toward the end of the same, they become blended one with 
another. 
The first pair of coccygeal muscles are situated on the upper 
part of the tail. They are attached to the sacrum and to the 
bones of the tail. Their action is to raise or erect the tail. 
The second pair are termed depressors coccyx, and are situated 
at the under purt of the tail. They are attached to the under- 
neath part of the sacrum, and to the same locality on the bones 
of the tail. They are antagonistic to the first pair, and their di- 
rect action is to depress the tail. These are the muscles which 
ehould be divided in the process of pricking or nicking. 
