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EXTIRPATION OF THE CONCH OP THE EAR 
ing only to partial amputation of the conch. This partial ampu¬ 
tation is often practised on the dog: as a matter of convenience 
or necessity, and it sometimes takes place in the larger animals; 
but I do not know that a complete extirpation of the cartilage of 
the conch has been effected as a cure for long standing caries of 
that part. 
In the course of the present year, two horses, that had long 
been affected with caries of the conch, were received into the 
hospital of our school. The disease had existed for a long time, 
and had resisted various applications, such as partial excision 
of the caries, and the actual and potential cautery repeated again 
and again. The conch was at length completely extirpated, and 
the wound readily healed. 
These two facts appear to me to be deserving of attention, 
not only because they have the claim of novelty, but because 
they may induce veterinary practitioners to practise this new 
surgical operation. 
The horse having been cast, and his head turned back, and 
kept in that position by two assistants, the operator charged a 
third to take hold of the extremity of the ear, and to move it 
as he might be directed. Then, with a crooked bistoury, he 
with one stroke made an incision through the skin which 
covered the outside of the conch. 
He next separated the skin from the conch, taking care to 
avoid wounding the two branches of the parotid gland which 
embrace the base of the conch at its external face, anteriorly 
and posteriorly, and also the scutiform cartilage situated ante¬ 
riorly and on the inner side. The excision of any of the lobules 
of the gland may occasion a salivary fistula; the wounding of 
the scutiform cartilage or the denudation of the cellular tissue, 
and the muscular substance that surrounds it, may lead to more 
widely spreading caries during the process of suppuration. 
The parts which must inevitably be cut are the muscles that 
move the external ear, the vessels and the nerves that supply 
the ear, and tbe two nervous plexuses situated at the anterior 
and posterior parts. 
The separation of the skin of the cartilage being made to its 
very base, the operator, with two or three strokes of the bis¬ 
toury, carefully avoiding the parotid, cuts through the cervico- 
auricular muscles, the nerves, the vein, the artery, and the 
posterior-auricular plexuses. The artery will discharge a great 
deal of blood, and must be immediately tied. This first part of 
the operation is very painful to the animal, and the operator 
must proceed with firmness and dexterity in the midst of the 
struggles and violent movements of the head of the animal. 
