432 THE HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

 OPERATIONS. 



Administration of Chloroform — Methods oj confining the Horse — 

 Bleeding — Firing — Setons and Rowels — Blistering — Castration 

 — Docking and Nicking — Unnerving — Reduction of Hernia — 

 Administration of Physic — Clysters — Back-Racking. 



ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM. 



The use of chloroform to procure insensibility to pain is a 

 great aid to the operator on the horse, who without it acts under 

 great difficulties, owing to the nervous twitch which the poor ani- 

 mal gives at each touch of the knife. Under chloroform, however, 

 he lies as if dead ; and as long as its effects continue, the most 

 elaborate dissection may be conducted with comparative ease. 

 There is some little danger of overdoing this powerful agent, but 

 the risk is not so great as is generally supposed, and with ordinary 

 care it is more than one thousand to one that no injurious effects 

 are produced. 



The best and most simple apparatus for the purpose of 

 administering chloroform is a common wire muzzle, to the upper 

 edge of which a strip of leather six inches deep is stitched, and 

 so arranged that it may be buckled round the upper part of the 

 jaws. This insures that all the air inspired shall pass through the 

 wires, and by covering them with a cap of very loose flannel, in 

 which a few holes are cut to facilitate respiration, the muzzle may 

 be made ready for use. The horse is first cast, after which the 

 above apparatus is put on and buckled round the jaw, when on 

 sprinkling the chloroform over the cap of flannel, it may be applied 

 or removed in an instant, and the amount of anaesthesia regulated 

 accordingly. Without some guard such as the wire affords, the 

 chloroform runs over the nostrils and lips, and blisters them to a 

 serious extent; but when it is used, such an accident can only 

 occur from over-saturating the flannel. The necessary quantity of 

 this powerful agent must be employed; but when once it is found 

 that a prick of a pin or other pointed instrument is borne without 

 shrinking, the flannel may be withdrawn, and the operation quickly 

 commenced, taking care to have an assistant ready to put it on 

 again if the horse shows signs of returning sensibility to pain. 

 Six or eight ounces of chloroform must be provided, as the quantity 

 required is rather uncertain, the average dose being about three 

 or four ounces. 



If casting is objected to, either from the absence of hobbles, 

 or from fear of injur) 7 to the horse, a soft bed of straw should be 



