406 
JUNIUS A. WATTLES. 
POINTS IN PRACTICE.* 
By Junius A. Wattles, D.V.S., Kansas City, Mo. 
I have selected for my subject “ Points in Practice,” for 
several reasons, not the least of which is the belief that it will 
bring out a discussion of the several subjects touched upon, 
and the hope that we will all become gainers by absorbing 
the ideas of our fellow practitioners. 
It is often said that a lazy man takes the most pains to 
devise easy methods, and you will please accept nvy acknowl¬ 
edgment now, that my desire to avoid anything like labor has 
become chronic, and the hardest labor performed by me is 
that of finding easy ways of doing things. This will explain 
to you why my subject is a practical, rather than a theoreti¬ 
cal one, as to-day the theorist is the hardest worker in our 
ranks. 
The wisdom of the world has been gained by close obser¬ 
vation of minute things, and some of the most practical points 
are sometimes obtained from the humblest sources. 
In our practice we are frequently called upon to perform 
the very commonplace operation of castrating a “Tom-cat,” 
and from a student attending my lectures came the welcome 
intelligence, to me, of an easy manner of confinement during 
the operation. 
Follow instructions closely: Take the right posterior limb 
of the animal between the third and fourth fingers of the right 
hand; the right anterior limb between the first and second 
fingers of the right hand ; take the right ear between the 
thumb and first finger of the right hand; use the left hand 
in a similar manner, on the left side of the animal. Your 
assistant holding him firmly will bring the animal’s back 
towards the assistant, and facing the operator, in which posi¬ 
tion the operation may be performed with “neatness and de¬ 
spatch,” aided by the proper application of a sharp knife. 
Men to-day do not accept new theories as positive facts 
until they are proven, and if in our practice an error is dis- 
*A Paper read before the Missouri State Veterinary Medical Association. 
