OPERATIONS—NEUROTOMY. 455 
engraving with the course of the nerve shown in the previous illus- 
tration. 
When the skin is divided—supposing the horse is neurotomized for 
the first time—nothing is visible but white-looking cellular tissue. This 
must be carefully dissected away with a pair of forceps and a scalpel. 
Dissect on until the nerve and artery are exposed plainly to view. 
Then take a crooked needle and thread. Pierce the nerve—this you 
may do fearlessly. The author has not known it to produce pain. 
The superior opening represents the place where one side of the foot may be deprived of sensation by 
a single division. 
The two middle incisions denote the part where either the fore or after portion of the foot may, per- 
haps, be rendered void of sensation. 
The two inferior cuts suggest the situations where, probably, the parts of the foot toward which the 
incisions point may be made insensible. 
The fibers composing the nerve are so fine that the needle’s point is 
blunt when compared with them. It, therefore, glides through them 
without pricking any of the filaments. 
If the horse has been operated upon before, you must expect a tedious 
and sanguinary business. It is then of all importance to obtain a very 
attentive and equally nimble man to take the sponge. Blood will fol- 
low every movement of the knife. However, with each cut you must 
retract the hand, and the man who has care of the sponge must quickly, 
surely, and forcibly cleanse the wound. When the sponge is withdrawn, 
for an instant, and for an instant only, is there a clear view of the part. 
The operator must be ready to make the most of that glimpse; for, the 
next moment, blood flows over the lips of the orifice and all is concealed 
from view. Thus we proceed, rather snipping than cutting, taking 
away particles instead of flakes of cellular tissue, till the nerve is ex- 
posed. ‘Then it is fixed with the needle as before directed. 
The nerve being caught, withdraw the needle, leaving the thread 
