278 



OPERATIONS ON BONES. 



and cruel methods which have characterized the details of the 

 amputation. We believe that some of these methods may be so 

 modified as to reUeve the operation of its apparent character of 

 cruelty. We refer novr especially to the means vs^hich have been 

 and are employed for the arrest of the hemorrhage which is likely 

 to foUow the section of the blood vessels of the region. 



The tail has for its bony support a series of the caudal verte- 

 brae — from fifteen to eighteen — varying in number and diminish- 

 ing in size from the sacrum to the end of the organ, and united 

 by a thick inter-vertebral ligament, and attached to them are the 

 caudal muscles in pairs, three on each side, the superiors or ele- 

 vators, the inferiors or depressors, and the laterals or inclinators. 

 Beside these, there is also the ischio-caudal muscle, which extends 

 from the ischiatic ligament upward and backward to terminate on 

 the sides of the first caudal vertebrae. Between each of the lateral 

 and inferior caudal muscles runs the lateral caudal, and on the 

 median line between the inferior muscles the median caudal ar- 

 tery, all ranning to the end of the taU, and likely, when divided, 

 to cause a more or less troublesome hemorrhage. AU these or- 

 gans are surrounded by the caudal aponeurosis, from the deep 

 surface of which proceed bands which form a special sheath for 

 each muscle, and is ultimately united by its external face to the 

 thick skin which surrounds the region. This skin on the upper 

 and on each lateral face of the tail is covered with long, thick, 

 coarse hair, wMle the inferior face is hairless, smooth and com- 

 paratively thin. 



FlO. 292.— Tail Cutters. 



