PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 253 



SPINAL COCAINIZATION.— The posterior extremi- 

 ties, the pelvic organs and some of the abdominal viscera 

 can be perfectly anaesthetized by the injection of a 2% so- 

 lution of cocaine into the subarachnoidean space of the 

 lumbar division of the spinal cord. The experiment was 

 tried in human surgery for the past several years, with 

 some success, but owing to the danger of complications it 

 has been losing ground instead of being generally adopted. 

 The uncertainties of asepsis, the dififi'culties met in deliver- 

 ing the solution to the proper place, and the gravity of the 

 complications, seem to have rendered the method some- 

 what obsolete. In surgery of domestic animals it was 

 never used, although a number of experiments made upon 

 the dog have demonstrated the possibility of its application 

 in animals. In the large animals it must not be thought of. 

 The distance from the cord to the surface alone would 

 prevent its adoption, without taking into account the dan- 

 gers of sepsis and the difficulty of managing a half-para- 

 lyzed horse while the sensibility was gradually returning. 



