64 
NEUROTOMY. 
tarsal nerve” and directed that the wound be treated secundum 
artem. The reason why he divided the nerve above its bifurcation 
was, that he was debarred from doing so below by the enormity of 
the exostosis. Mr. Tombs did not learn the result of the operation 
until his return to England (in 1831); when he was informed that 
the lameness had vanished three days after the operation, and that 
the mare had, since, run three races, and had been sold. And that 
at the (then) present time she was doing sharp work, free entirely 
from lameness. — Veterinarian, vol. iv, p.542-3. 
The next case will shew that, when ringbone prevails on one 
side, or is confined thereto, only the nerve on that side need be 
operated on. 
In July 1836, Mr. Morris, V.S., Bideford, Devonshire, was 
requested by C. Radley, Esq., surgeon, of Newton Abbot, to look 
at a lame mare of his. She was four years old, and had two ring- 
bones, one upon the near fore leg, the other upon the near hind. 
The exostosis first appeared when she was a twelvemonth old. 
(Does not this fact, along with many analogous ones, militate in 
favour of the hereditary nature of ringbone?) She had been seve- 
ral times fired and blistered in both her (ringboned) legs by a 
farrier previously to Mr. Morris coming to reside at Bideford. 
She was (now) lame only in the near fore leg. “ Having atten- 
tively examined her,” continues Mr. Morris, “ I was convinced 
that the seat of lameness was confined to the outer side of the 
pastern. I recommended that she be nerved, to which the 
owner assented. Having prepared her, on the 6th July I per- 
formed the operation on the outer side only. The wound soon 
healed, and a month after, I had the pleasure of seeing her trot and 
gallop perfectly sound. Mr. Radley rides her, when visiting his 
patients, upon all kinds of roads, and says ‘ she never stumbles,’ 
and that he prefers riding her to either of his horses.” — VETERI- 
NARIAN, vol. x, p. 201. 
For CONTRACTED Hoofs, viewing them in the light of idio- 
pathic disease, or as being the immediate cause of the existing 
lameness, in the uninflamed condition of the foot, and when conse- 
quential changes of its orgasm have taken place which bid defi- 
ance to therapeutic measures, neurotomy is a warrantable resource. 
Indeed, regarding the contraction as mechanically occasioning lame- 
ness by the pressure of the sides or heels of the hoof upon the sides 
or sensible parts of the foot, the freedom and boldness which neuro- 
tomy will encourage in the tread is calculated to prove of effect in 
expanding the hoof, and so removing the assumed cause of the 
lameness : not that this is of much consequence so long as the 
foot remains devoid of feeling ; but that it may tell remotely to its 
advantage, supposing the foot after a time to recover its sensibility. 
