ON THE DISCOVERY OF NEUROTOMY. 
71 
describes in the following manner : — “ First, if the horse be very 
everst and shrewd, then cast him upon a dounghill or some strawe ; 
then having found the vayne which you would take up, marke 
well that part of the skinne which couereth the vayne, and pull 
that somewhat aside from the vayne with your left thumbe, to the 
intent you may slitte it with a razor without touching the vayne. 
And cut no deeper then onlly through the skinne, and that longol- 
wise, as the vayne goeth, and not above an inche long. That done, 
take away your thombe, and the skinne will returne agayne into 
his place right over the vayne, as it was before. Then with a 
cornel uncover the vayne and make it bare, and being bare, thrust 
the cornel underneath it and rayse it up, so as you may put a shoe- 
maker’s threade underneath, somewhat higher than the coronel, to 
knitte the vayne when the tyme is ; and if your cornel had a hole 
in the small end thereof to put in the threade it should be the easier 
done. Then the cornel standing so still, slitte the vayne longol- 
ways, that it may bleede, and having bled somewhat from above, 
then knitte it up with a sure knot, somewhat above the slitte, suf- 
fering it to bleede only from beneath ; and having bled sufficiently, 
then knitte up the vein also beneath the slitte with a sure knot, 
and fill the hole of the vayne with salt, and then heale up the 
wounde of the skinne with turpentine and hog’s grease molten 
together and laid on with a little flax.” 
Taking into consideration the state of the veterinary art, and 
making every allowance for the ignorance that prevailed with re- 
gard to the circulation of the blood at this period, 1566, this plain 
statement of the manner in which this operation ought to be per- 
formed is most creditable to the writer. Although a bungling ope- 
rator might mistake the artery for the vein, slit through nerve and 
artery, and include them both in the same ligature, it is certainly 
not likely that he would cut through all three. Therefore the 
question turns upon this point. In speaking of veins, does Blunde- 
ville mean the artery or not? If the artery was the part, it is easy 
to conceive that the ligature embraced both nerve and artery ; but 
if he mean only the veins, then I am of opinion that the nerve 
was not included. From the manner in which he describes the 
operation, the bleeding from beneath, &c., I am of opinion that the 
vein was the only part they intended the operation should be per- 
formed upon. I do not think, therefore, that we can say or suppose 
that the nerve operation was known to or designedly performed by 
the old farriers ; at the same time it is but natural to suppose 
that the idea was taken from the operation which has just been 
described. For w]pat so natural a reflection for a scientific mind 
as this ? If it has been found of benefit in lameness of the feet, 
&c., to take up the veins, what may not be the result of the divi- 
