PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY .201 



being with a single blow with the fore foot. These special 

 propensities of the different species must be known and 

 must be taken into account in veterinary surgery. 



Among the domestic species, the temper of individuals 

 is varied. Some may be submitted to torturing pain with- 

 out offering any great amount of resistance, while others 

 of the same species may forcibly resent the slightest inter- 

 ference with their comfort. AVhat will irritate one animal 

 may provoke no resistance in another. A horse may strike 

 out viciously from the simple attempt to trim the long hairs 

 from its ears, or from the slightest handling of its neck at 

 the seat of a previous collar gall. The simple operation of 

 paracentesis of the intestines for flatulence, may provoke 

 an unexpected wicked side-sweep of the hind leg. The 

 administration of a rectal enema is accepted complacently 

 by most horses, but occasionally it will be met with a vicious 

 kick with both hind legs. Manual explorations of the gen- 

 erative organs of the mare during obstetrical operations 

 are not always safe, although most mares will offer no re- 

 sistance. The vicious horse is seldom dangerous, because 

 special preparation is made to prevent the expected resent- 

 ment. It is the apparently harmless animal, the one from 

 which personal injury is not expected, that usually proves 

 the undoing of a thoughtless veterinarian. Furthermore, 

 personal injury may be sustained when there is no intention 

 on the part of the patient to inflict it. A tread of the foot, 

 a sudden fall to the floor, or the swing of an accidentally 

 released leg, may often prove disastrous. In the wild 

 species, there is less danger, because they are seldom 

 handled without first taking due precautions to prevent 

 them from inflicting injury. The dog, even though assured 

 to be perfectly harmless, seldom ever deceives a trained 

 veterinarian, because many dogs are known to bite oiT'the 

 least provocation, and all of them are known to resent the 



