NEUROTOMY. 
181 
pastern, and at a place immediately below the head of the pastern, 
where the fingers, pressing inwards, are found to sink into a sort of 
hollow, let him commence his incision, and carry it boldly down- 
ward to the extent requisite — say, an inch or an inch-and-a-half. 
Let the knife be sharp, and let sufficient force of hand be used in 
making the incision to divide the skin cleanly and completely 
through at once, so as to lay bare (should the incision have been 
judiciously made) the plantar nerve, crossed obliquely at its lower 
part by the ligament of the pad. When the incision through the 
skin has been made too low down, or with an obliquity from behind 
forward, instead of being in a direct line with the border of the 
tendon, it has happened that this ligament (and no nerve) has pre- 
sented itself ; and the result of this has been, either that the liga- 
ment has been mistaken for the nerve, and divided, and excised 
instead of it ; or, that its presence has much embarrassed the 
operator in finding the nerve. The circumstance, however, of the 
superficial situation of the ligament, lying so immediately under- 
neath the skin that by uncareful dissectors it is often taken off 
with the skin, together with that of its oblique course, and that of 
its glistening (tendinous) aspect, confirmed by the proof, that, 
when pinched or pricked, no sensation is expressed, will at all 
times clear up any doubt that may exist on this matter. If the 
ligament happen to obtrude itself in his way, which it will now 
and then, the operator must push it with his scalpel — better back- 
wards than forwards — out of his way ; or he may, if found requi- 
site, even cut it away altogether, without, that I know, any great 
harm being likely to accrue therefrom. Indeed, honestly speaking, 
the use of this ligament — for use it undoubtedly has — is wrapped 
in some obscurity. Having exposed the nerve, a blunt hook or 
aneurismal needle, carrying a ligature, may be passed underneath 
it; and now, that we have got with our hook or ligature possession 
of it, is the time to satisfy ourselves that we have really raised the 
nerve, and not the ligament, or the plantar artery : for the latter, 
as well as the former, has been a source of delusion, though I need 
hardly say that pulsation will set the case of the artery at rest ; 
nor is it scarcely necessary for me to add, that the very act of 
laying hold of the nerve to raise it, and most certainly pinching or 
irritating it, will set the animal struggling from pain, and thus 
most satisfactorily clear up every question of identity. All that 
remains to be done is to divide the nerve ; and this is done better 
with a sharp bistoury than with either knife or scissors. Take 
care that such division be made as high up as the wound in the 
skin will permit, the object of this being two-fold ; — 1st, that 
thereby sensation is at once cut off, which it would not have been 
had the nerve been, first, divided below ; and, secondly, that the 
excision of the requisite portion of the nerve — say an inch or so — 
