AMPUTATION OP THE TAIL OP THE HORSE. 267 
with resin. The smoke, and odorous fumes, are blinding the 
operator, who is in as awkward a fix as the poor horse him- 
self. The print we allude to, although a masterpiece, but 
faintly represents the reality ; and, as I one day was mentioning 
my father’s practice to a veterinary surgeon, he exclaimed, 
“ Ours is certainly dangerous work, and with the best care, 
assistants or operator stand a chance to have their brains 
knocked out.” I must mention that this was pre-eminently 
a practical man, and all practical men, here or abroad, have 
until now seared in docking : at least so far as we have 
learned, with one exception. And it is also a practical, as well 
as scientific man, for w T hom we have the greatest reverence, 
that said he had been in the habit of tying over the stump, 
and securing some tow between the hairs, but the practice 
was not found to answer in all cases. My father has often 
told me that he has heard of persons tying over the stump, 
and thus inducing gangrene of one or more joints of the tail, 
for the pressure requisite to stop the coccygeal arteries in this 
way is considerable ; whereas, when the hairs are tied below , 
it is the natural haemostatic , consisting firstly in retraction of the 
and formation of a temporary cloty and secondly of a temporary 
plug , that comes into operation. 
We have seen tetanus resulting from docking by the usual 
method, and have heard of several cases of sloughing away 
of several of the coccygeal bones. We are well aware that a 
simple prick may cause tetanus, but it is rather strange that 
to my father such accidents are unknown, because the heal- 
ing by granulation under a natural eschar must be more in 
order than the separation of what has suffered by the hot iron, 
and reparation by exuded plastic lymph. 
If simplicity is the undeniable seal of truth and humanity 
to be held in view by all operating surgeons, then there is no 
doubt that a clean cut is no severe operation, and tying of hair 
unassociated with difficulty or sensation. Some persons may 
say it is most humane to leave tails as they are ; so it is, 
but men will have their horses docked, because in the sight 
of the world a horse with three inches taken off the end of his 
tail carries it better, and it looks lighter. We have heard 
horsemen of all kinds repeatedly say, 66 that horse will be all 
the better for havinga little of his tail off,” and we could not 
but agree with them. 
But, lastly, some diseases may necessitate amputation of 
the tail. We admit this is extremely rare, but we have had 
to do it ourselves, and not only in the horse, but have 
seen it resorted to for a peculiar disease of the coccygeal 
bones in cattle. In the ox, we are aware that nothing can 
