438 OPERATIONS. 
ing the tape into the sinus, in which it remains. A knot is made at either 
end of the tape; thus a seton is with safety placed in situations where 
the depth to be penctrated would defy ordinary measures, and the vessels 
to he passed would render such measures more than doubly hazardous. 
The use of a seton is to act as a drain, or to stimulate an unhealthy 
canal—to provoke a sinus to secrete healthy pus, instead of a thin and 
often a foul discharge—and thus to cause the diseased pipe to heal or 
to become obliterated. 
When operating, always make your first incision through the skin 
rather too large than in the least too small; remember, the division from 
within outward occasions much less pain than the separation, made after 
the ordinary fashion, from without inward. 
Never spare hair; the substance is readily reproduced. It can be 
wished to be spared only to conceal the fact of an operation having been 
performed. Always refuse to become a party to dishonesty. Do what 
is necessary for the proper performance of your office. The removal of 
hair, which may otherwise interfere with your sight, is essential: there- 
fore cut it off, regardless of any wish to the contrary. 
Instruct your assistants beforehand how to cast the horse; leave that 
business to them: never meddle yourself. The writer has seen veterinary 
surgeons, in their operating dresses, push and haul with the utmost en- 
ergy. Such silly people have doubtless thought themselves exalted by 
this exhibition of violence. It would have been more to their credit 
had they devoted half the energy to teaching their people beforehand. 
But in what condition must their hands and temper be after having taken 
a lead in a struggle with a horse for mastery ! 
A surgeon should always be cool. His head should direct his hand ; 
his knife should be held lightly ; his eve should be quick, and his mind 
prepared to meet any accident. He should do his office neatly, and, if 
possible, without soiling his person. The ripping cut and the bloody 
hands alone distinguish the ignorant butcher from the scientific operator. 
During every operation enjoin the strictest silence upon the specta- 
tors. The horse is never vicious, but it is always timid. Sounds have 
a powerful effect upon animals which cannot understand speech. Every 
word uttered, even in a whisper, should be of assurance to the sufferer ; 
for the horse is only to be feared in its efforts to escape from some sup- 
posed peril. It becomes mad inits alarm. It then puts forth its strength 
and exerts it without regard to consequences. Man has everything to 
hope from the fortitude and noble forbearance of the creature. It re- 
sponds to kindness with something more than submission; it answers 
sympathy by the most entire confidence and utter dependence. The life, 
the feeling, the natural powers are all subservient to the great love which 
