THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XXXV. 
No.418. 
OCTOBER, 1862 . 
Fourth Series. 
No. 94. 
Communications and Cases. 
REMOVAL OF A SUPERNUMERARY LIMB FROM 
A THOROUGH-BRED FILLY. 
By G. W. Varnell, Assistant-Professor, 
Royal Veterinary College. 
In the Veterinarian for 1859, vol. xxxii, I published the 
particulars and results of an operation performed by me on a 
colt for the removal of a supernumerary leg. In the early part 
of August of the present year I performed a similar opera¬ 
tion on a filly foal, the property of a gentleman at New¬ 
market, the results of which were quite as favorable as those 
of the former case. The operation, however, in the last 
instance was slightly modified from that of the former, and, I 
consider, with considerable advantage, which induces me, 
very briefly, to publish the particulars of the operation. 
In this instance, as in the former case, the additional limb 
branched off from the inner and lower part of the large meta¬ 
carpal bone of the near fore leg, below which it had the same 
number of articulations as the limb to which it was attached, 
in the former case I removed the limb by disarticulating 
the supernumerary leg at the fetlock-joint, and, although the 
case did as well as I then expected it could, nevertheless, for 
some days after the operation, there was a considerable dis¬ 
charge of synovia from the part of the synovial membrane 
left, which slightly retarded the healing process. This, how¬ 
ever, was entirely obviated by the mode of amputation I 
adopted in the present case, which was as follows :—The 
filly being cast, and rendered insensible by the inhalation ot 
chloroform, I proceeded to remove the extra limb, first by 
making a longitudinal incision on its inner aspect, from about 
xxxv. 40 
