ROYAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE AT PARIS. 139 
evil, he applies to the supposed ailing limb his vesicatory or 
adhesive charges—after that he tries the seton, and he con¬ 
cludes by the application of the cautery. Such is the long series 
of therapeutic agents ordinarily employed in these cases of lame¬ 
ness. One of them, or the united agency of two or three, often 
succeeds, and the animal becomes sound; but, too often, the 
lameness resists all means and appliances, and is then deemed 
to be incurable. 
Struck by the insufficiency of the common treatment, and the 
frequency of these kinds of lameness on the smooth pavement 
of Naples, M. de Nanzio has adopted, and used with success, 
a mode of treatment which he considers to be new, and the fre¬ 
quent employment of which he zealously advocates. This, in 
lamenesses of the hind limbs, consists in making an incision 
through the skin which covers the hip-joint, about four inches 
in length, and cauterizing the cellular tissue and the subjacent 
muscles. In order more conveniently to perform this operation, 
and to prevent the wounding of the trochantery he advises that 
the surgeon should make himself perfectly assured of the joint, 
by moving the limb first a little forward and then a little back¬ 
ward, taking care to place the hand below and in front of the 
trochanter. The precise point at which the operation shall be 
performed having been determined on, and the animal secured, 
an incision is made in the direction already indicated—the skin 
is then separated from the cellular tissue beneath, and its edges 
covered with pieces of linen dipped in cold water. Being thus 
covered, they are held apart by two tenacula, while the operator, 
with a round-pointed cautery-iron brought to a light red heat, 
burns through the cellular and muscular substance in three or 
four points, between the exposed surface and the articulation. 
M. de Nanzio says nothing precisely as to the length of the 
pointed end of the cautery, but recommends the operator, while 
he burns deep enough, to be assured that he does not open the 
joint, an accident which, he says, has happened to the unskilful 
operator. The cauterization being over, the tenacula and the 
linen which covered the edges of the skin are withdrawn, and 
the wound is dressed either with marsh-mallow ointment or dry 
tow. The animal is then returned to the stable, and his head 
secured, that he may not be able to get at the wound. The 
wound, which only requires to be kept clean, speedily closes, and, 
at the expiration of fifteen or twenty days the horse, according 
to our author, is jicrfectly healed. M. de Nanzio has recourse 
to the same operation in cases of lameness of tlie shoulder-joint, 
and also in lamenesses below that joint, and, generally, with the 
same good effect. 
