SEOTJKING SOLIPEDS. 17 



Fig. B.— The Gag. 



pain to the animal. Lacerations of the commissure, or wounds of 

 the skin at the poll are to be anticipated if this manner of punish- 

 ment is not guardedly used. 



There are besides these some milder appliances which must 

 not be overlooked. Among them is the repeated pricking of the 

 tip of the nose with a pin, and the introduction of foreign bodies, 

 such as musket balls in the ears. The origin of this last method 

 dates back to 1607, when little round stones were recommended 

 for the same object. When musket balls are used, holes should 

 be drilled through them for the insertion of a string, in order that 

 they may be withdrawn when necessary. 



JB. — Mechanical or Restraint Method. 



The means employed in this method vary according to the po- 

 sition, whether upright or recumbent, in which it is desirable to 

 confine the animal during an operation. 



STANDING POSITION. 



The necessity of imposing restraint upon the patient while 

 imder treatment in the standing position arises not alone from the 

 danger of injury to the operator and his assistants, from the biting 

 and kicking of the excited animal, but because he is so thoroughly 

 impartial in the distribution of his attentions that he even requires 

 protection from his own violence, and his own flesh must be guard- 

 ed from the contact of his own teeth. 



They are usually resorted to in order to facihtate operations 

 of comparatively trifling importance, and which are not ^of a par- 

 ticularly painful nature, or are of easy and rapid execution, or 



