210 
E. STURGE. 
metatarsals and the three cuneiforms, if all these bones aie sup¬ 
posed to be involved. In the second area, we can usually get 
about three, and if thought necessary to puncture the third area 
a few superficial points may be placed, but it is only in a very 
clean cut hock that we could expect to reach the diseased bones 
in this area. A few superficial points are placed around those 
which have been let in deeply. 
Before operating, the shoes should be taken off and the feet 
pared level. The hair should be clipped irom the joint, and 
the skin brushed thoroughly clean. If the operation is to be 
upon a ringbone or spavin, or of an equally serious nature, throw 
the patient, but circumstances may render this unnecessary or 
impossible. 
One can often get along well enough with a feather iron by 
allowing the patient to stand, but the use of the pointed iron is 
a finer operation, requiring the patient s quietude, and the oper¬ 
ator can work with more confidence and skill while the animal 
is secured. 
I prefer the side lines, so called to distinguish them from 
the English hobbles. They are provided with a bieast and 
loin strap and flex the hock so that the fetlock almost touches 
the stifle. The limb to be operated upon is released, though 
In case of a hind leg, not quite so readily as in the English hob¬ 
bles. But the animal goes down so much more safely, and is 
so thoroughly secured when down, that it is preferable to any 
throwing apparatus that I have seen. A rope is attached to the 
pastern of the leg to be operated upon and held by an assistant. 
Every precaution must be taken for the safety of the patient, as 
fasting before throwing, a good bed of straw, plenty of help and 
9. cushion for the head. 
Operation. —The cautery being hot, the operator uses the 
first two fingers of the left hand to determine the exact point of 
each puncture, selecting slight eminences and avoiding the 
puncture of blood-vessels and bursae. The punctures are not 
made by one application of the instrument, but by several. 
When on an exostosis let the cautery well in and in the imme- 
