THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL.IX,No. 103.] JULY 1836. [New Series, No. 43. 
ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
By Mr. You att. 
LECTURE VII. 
Neurotomy. 
THE division of the nerve, as a remedy for intense pain in any 
part of the frame, was known, or at least was hinted at, more 
than fifteen centuries ago : it does not, however, appear to have 
been systematically practised until the middle of the last cen- 
tury, and was then confined, or nearly so, to inflammation or 
disease of the sensitive nerves of the face. It was a remedy for 
neuralgia — pain in the nerve — from whatever cause it might 
arise, and generally bidding defiance to the power of medicine. 
Simple Division of the Nerve. — The pain being clearly re- 
ferrible to a particular spot, and not to be traced to any local 
inflammation or mechanical cause, an incision w r as made in the 
known direction of the nerve, and between the immediate seat 
of torture and the brain. The result of this was usually instan- 
taneous relief, but too often of a temporary nature : the divided 
edges of the nerve again united, and with that re-union the com- 
munication between the diseased part and the brain was again 
established, and the former agony returned ; or, in some instances, 
the pain was translated to another place, generally a neighbour- 
ing, but occasionally a distant one. 
Extirpation of a Portion of the Nerve. — When that grand im- 
provement on neurotomy, the extirpation of a portion of the 
nerve, took place, I am not sufficiently versed in medical litera- 
ture to be able to tell you ; but there is a very interesting account 
of the operation given in Majendie’s Journal of Physiology. 
A French soldier was wounded in the leg in the battle of Wagram, 
in 1809. The ball was extracted, and the wound healed ; but the 
man was subject to very extraordinary nervou£ paroxysms in the 
part, and convulsions, commencing from the cicatrix, spread over 
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