SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 291 



In cattle the operation is usually performed on the left jugular vein, 

 which is large and is easily rendered so prominent as to prevent the 

 possibility of mistake by tying a cord around the neck below the 

 place where the incision is to be made. (PI. XXVII, fig. 4. ) The 

 rope should be tied in a slip knot, so as to admit of its being easily 

 undone, or a rope used with a loop at one end and a series of good- 

 sized knots at the other, the loop and knots to be used as buttons and 

 button holes. The proper instrument to use is a large-bladed fleam. 

 (PI. XXVII, fig. 3.) After the animal is secured the operator stands 

 by the shoulder, holds the fleam in his left hand, the blade just short 

 of touching the skin and parallel to the direction of the vein, and the 

 stick or mallet with which to strike it in his right; one quick, sharp 

 blow should be sufficient. If the hair is long, it is a wise precaution 

 to moisten and smooth it down. 



When sufficient blood has been withdrawn the rope is removed and 

 the orifice closed by means of a pin inserted through the lips of the 

 incision in the shin only, and a piece of fine string or tow wound either 

 over or under it in the shape of a figure 8, or in a circle between the 

 skin and the pin (PI. XXVIII, fig. 10), the point of which should be 

 clipped off. To prevent the animal from rubbing the part and tearing 

 or dislodging the pin, it is advisable to tie the head up for a couple of 

 days, providing the animal's health will admit of it, after which the 

 pin may be removed and the wound left to heal in the usual manner. 



Before leaving the subject it may be well to add that as the good 

 effects derived from bleeding depend more on the quickness with 

 which the blood is drawn than on the quantity extracted, it is of 

 importance that a liberal opening should be made into the blood vessel 

 and the blood allowed to flow until a perceptible impression has been 

 made on the pulse. 



SBTONING. 



Setons are used in cattle for various purposes, of which perhaps the 

 most common is as a preventive in anthrax or blackleg, when a seton 

 is usually inserted in the dewlap. This is not done to afford exit to 

 any poisonous discharge from the system, as is generally supposed, 

 but to cause a sufficient amount of inflammation to increase the 

 coagulating properties of the blood, which in these diseases becomes 

 altered (as described elsewhere), notably losing its viscidity and in 

 consequence oozing through the walls of the blood vessels. For this 

 purpose the seton should be deeply inserted and should be dressed 

 daily with turpentine or common blister. 



The ordinary use of a seton is for a different object, as, for instance, 

 to keep up constant drainage from a cavity containing matter, or to 

 act as a stimulant or counterirritant. To insert a seton, the place of 

 entrance and exit having been decided on, with the finger and thumb 

 make a small fold of the skin transverse to the direction t he seton is 



