NEUROTOMY. 
425 
the nerves which are distributed on the muscular portions of the 
frame is divided, both feeling and motion cease below the exci- 
sion. But there are not any muscles below the knee. Except in 
the structure of the bloodvessels there is not a trace of muscular 
fibre ; and the coats of the bloodvessels derive their stimulus 
from a source essentially distinct from that which governs the vo- 
luntary motions of the frame. 1 1 is sensation, the power of feeling, 
which is destroyed, and nothing else. Do not be misled by the 
old notions about nervous vital energy : the nerves with which 
you have to do in this operation are not concerned with the 
vitality of the part. The blood circulates, and the horn grows, 
and every secretion is carried on just as before. All that you 
do is to cut off sensation. I wish you thoroughly to understand 
this, for without it you cannot form an accurate conception of 
the principle or the consequences, or the various modes of 
performing the operation. 
The actual Result of the Operation . — You partially or totally 
destroy sensation in that portion below the excision which was 
supplied by the nerve on which you operate : and a glorious thing 
it often is to be able to accomplish this. I have a horse with con- 
tracted feet ; and having tender feet myself, and occasionally 
compelled to take a long round in tight or ill-fitting boots, I 
can form some, although probably a very imperfect, idea of the 
torture which he endures : I can well understand the low action 
and the short step, and the fumbling way of going which charac- 
terizes the horse with contracted feet ; and I can understand 
likewise how this unnatural action perpetuates and increases the 
contraction by taking away that concussion, that play of the 
various parts of the foot, which in the unimpeded, fearless action 
of the sound horse, expands the quarters and preserves the 
natural and useful form of the foot. I excise a portion of the 
nerve, and the lameness ceases at once — nay, more than this, 
(and especially if I adopt the unfettered shoe, at least so far as I 
can have it unfettered, Mr. Turner’s shoe, attached to the foot 
chiefly on one side alone, and the inner quarter left free), the foot 
gradually regains its original healthy form ; and when in process of 
time a new portion of nerve is produced, and the sensibility of 
the foot re-established, the horse continues to be sound. 
You destroy sensation, you probably relieve the horse from a 
great deal of pain. To some extent, you produce immediate good 
effect as it regards the actual disease. You remove that general 
constitutional irritability which long-continued pain occasions, 
and which heightens and perpetuates local disease. Obtain for 
a patient a short interval of repose, and how soon does every local 
ailment subside or disappear, and the whole constitution become 
