786 DISEASES OF THE POLL. 



pressure and the pain, obviates the danger of gangrene, facilitates 

 the examination of the wound, and greatly aids the excision of 

 the soft, necrosed tissues, and the scraping of their bony attach- 

 ments. 



The operation is simple. The patient is thrown, and a straight 

 bistoury, or in preference, a blunt curved tenotomy knife are the 

 instruments. With the latter, the division of the skin is avoided. 

 The hgamentous section is subcutaneous, the instrument being 

 introduced under the cord, and the division made from within 

 outward. When the section is made, the ends of the ligament 

 draw apart. If it is necrosed, the anterior stump is removed down 

 to its insertion in the occipital bone, which may also be scraped. 

 The same treatment is applied to the tendons of the muscles. In 

 fact, the opening is cleared from aU mortified substances, and 

 treated as a simple wound. 



After the operation, the animal carries his head low down and 

 vertical, but when the wound becomes cicatrized, and continuity 

 is re-established between the stump of the ligament and the cervi- 

 cal tuberosity, the head becomes by degrees elevated, and is event- 

 ually restored to its normal position and natural liberty of motion. 



