326 
EXTIRPATION OF THE CONCH OF THE EAR OF 
THE HORSE. 
By Professor Renault, Alfort. 
A HORSE, belonging to a postmaster, had been wounded with 
a fork in the superior part of the ear. A tumour soon appeared, 
hot and painful, and which was followed, about thel2th day,by an 
abscess, that opened spontaneously. During more than a month, 
the horse continued at work, care being taken to keep the wound 
clean, which it was hoped would be sufficient to effect a cure. 
At the end of that time I saw him. The whole of the ear was 
swelled, principally on the convex surface, and the ear began to 
turn inwards. Some bloody pus escaped from the small orifice 
of the abscess; and a fistulous sinus took a direction down¬ 
wards, two inches at least below this orifice. 
An incision was made at the termination of the sinus, in order 
to favour the escape of the pus. The wound w^as washed with 
tincture of aloes; and the horse was brought to the school twice 
in every day, that the wound might be dressed. 
This treatment was pursued during three months, without 
success. Powdered aloes, charcoal, alum, chloride of lime, 
Egyptiacum ointment, excision of the carious spots many times 
repeated, cauterization with I’eau de Rabel (elixir of vitriol), 
nitrate of mercury, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, and the 
actual cautery, were successively and uselessly employed. The 
external ear became completely deformed; it was thickened, 
hard; and so exceedingly sore was the part, that it was impos¬ 
sible to approach the head of the horse without his attempting 
to defend it. A great quantity of ichor, clear and fetid, conti¬ 
nually ran from the inside of the ear, until the mucous mem¬ 
brane was inflamed. The animal evidently lost flesh. It was 
proposed to attempt the amputation of the conch, and, the con¬ 
sent of the owner being obtained, it was effected. The horse 
was out of work seven or eight days, and at the expiration of 
the 20th day the wound was healed. 
CASE II. 
An entire horse, eleven years old, had been bitten in the ear, 
three months before, by another horse. A painful swelling of 
the ear soon followed, to which emollients and anodynes were 
applied. An abscess presently opened, the wound would not 
heal, and fistula followed. 
Oct, 29^/i.—The ear was attentively examined—the conch was 
swelled, hard, a little painful; its base was very large, and its 
