444 OPERATIONS—TRACHEOTOMY. 
oxygenation of the blood. The vital current being impure, of course 
the brain which it nurtures is not in a condition of health or activity. 
The consciousness is impaired or altogether destroyed; and immediate 
relief is experienced after the performance of the operation. The re- 
covery is as rapid as the previous symptoms were alarming. The altered 
aspect of the animal is as though the body were resuscitated. In certain 
cases, where every breath is drawn in pain, the ease afforded by trache- 
otomy is most marked. It makes little difference to Nature, by what 
means the air is inhaled, so that a sufficiency of diluted oxygen come in 
contact with the absorbing membrane of the lungs. This, when the 
larynx is closed or diseased, tracheotomy permits to be accomplished. 
It is equally beneficial, safe, and humane. However ugly its description 
may read, it is in practice to be strongly recommended. 
The general fault with veterinary sugeons is the delay which com- 
monly pushes off the operation to the last moment. In this delay the 
proprietor is, perhaps, equally or even more at fault. Hope leads the 
owner on to the very last, and even then it is with reluctant horror that 
consent is given “to cut the horse’s throat.” Such is the term by which 
certain practitioners characterize tracheotomy; and though it is uttered 
merely as a joke, yet it creates an impression which acts against a harm- 
less operation. 
In agricultural districts, the veterinarian is frequently knocked up at 
night by a messenger, who announces “Farmer Hodges’s horse be a 
dying.” The farmer may live several miles off in the country; and the 
reluctant sleeper hurries on his clothes to obey the implied summons. 
In due time the pair reach farmer Hodge’s homestead. It needs no 
finger to point out the stable. The sound of laborious breathing effect- 
ually notifies it. However, the practitioner, upon entrance into the 
place, is horrified to find himself there with no better company than 
a boy and a rapidly-sinking animal. The circumstances demand other 
assistance. The horse doctor cannot help giving voice to his require- 
ments. The lad hearing this, says hastily he will fetch somebody very 
soon—hangs up the lantern and vanishes into the darkness. 
Minutes pass and no footfall greets the ear. The divisions of the 
hour are struck by the village church, and still no sound of returning 
steps. The animal becomes worse and worse. In its disabled state it 
fears to lie down, as that position impedes the breathing. In its efforts 
to stand, it reels about—now falling to one side and then to the other. 
Yet the departed messenger does not return. The veterinarian finds 
the limits of delay are passed: ten minutes more and the quadruped 
will be down. He takes out his lancet. One foot from the breast- 
bone, and as near the center of the neck as the rocking motion of the 
