434 
EDITORIAL. 
the January number. Unfortunately, in doing this, the article 
referred to was included with a number of others, and our re¬ 
marks became somewhat incoherent in consequence. To-day we 
print the reports in question, and add to them that of another 
case, which, unfortunately, was followed by a result similar to 
the others. If we may judge by these three cases, either the 
operation must be a failure, or there must be some defect in the 
modus operandi of our procedure. But while we may be willing 
to wait for additional proofs on this point, and are not yet ready to 
condemn definitively an operation which we apprehend would not 
have been ignored for nearly thirty years if it had really effected 
results which it seemed to promise, we still must caution our 
friends against too hasty an adoption of their conclusions. And 
we must also suggest to them the propriety of warning the pub. 
lie in respect to the danger incurred from the practices of im¬ 
posters who abuse their victims’ confidence by warranting a recov¬ 
ery in all cases, and wfithout reference to existing distinctions in 
the pathological features of the disease. The operation is a sim¬ 
ple one, so simple, indeed, that any daring and enterprising man, 
even without a knowledge of anatomy, physiology or surgery, 
may advise and perform it. And this may be done in such a 
way that the owner of a roarer, which may be otherwise a very 
valuable animal, may consent to or suggest it, to find himself not 
only the sufferer by a pecuniary loss without benefit to the horse, 
but must also accept the risk to which the animal may be ex¬ 
posed during the operation. Neurotomy, though an excellent, 
useful and justifiable operation, and which has been a means of 
relief in innumerable cases, lost at first, and especially in this 
country, much of its prestige because of its improper application. 
The confidence of the people in the usefulness of laryngotomy 
is in equal danger of being destroyed, and, in fact, the danger in 
our opinion is even greater, from the fact that the honesty of pur¬ 
pose of the operators may not always be liable to question, be¬ 
cause of the simplicity of the steps of the operation. These 
remarks were suggested by the reading of an extract printed in a 
Philadelphia paper, the tenor of which, even while allowing for 
the fanciful description of the inexpert and unscientific reporter, 
