NEURECTOMY AS A PRACTICAL OPERATION. 
523 
ergot and obliquely crossing the direction of nerve in the mid¬ 
dle of the side of the first phalanx. Drawing the thumb nail 
over the nerve trunk before section or the cross-section, as well 
as the white color and the striation remove all doubt. The con¬ 
nective tissue should be irritated and torn as little as possible. 
Prognosis .—The prognosis varies with the disease for which 
the operation is performed. In an ordinary case of navicular 
disease it is favorable ; in those cases in which there is an in¬ 
tense chronic lameness of long standing, contracted tendons and 
ligaments, the animal is hollow chested, and the inflammatory 
changes in the perforans tendon are such that the latter is 
weakened at its attachmeht to the os pedis, the prognosis is less 
favorable. It is good in ringbones Avhen there is no anchilosis ; 
also in sidebones in which the low operation suffices in mild 
cases, but the high is necessary in the aggravated forms. In 
laminitis the prognosis good only in very chronic cases, when 
the inflammatory conditions have disappeared and the deformity 
of the foot is not too marked. In general, the smaller the dis¬ 
eased area, the less acute and the less advanced the pathological 
alterations in the tissues, the more favorable is the prognosis. 
In acute or subacute, and in many instances of chronic laminitis, 
I would at any moment expect the separation of the hoof. Also 
is the prognosis more safe for the low operation than for the 
high. Again, consider the conformation of the foot. In flat- 
footed, thin-soled, low-heeled feet much predisposed to the 
effects of concussion and bruises, and in narrow and contract 
hoofs an opinion must be more guarded than when the exterior 
form is normal. Again, the nature of the work done by the 
animal, the pace and the conditions of the roads have their 
influence. 
Median Neurectomy.—Median netirectomy or section of the 
median nerve of the brachial plexus, was first practiced by 
Peters, of Berlin, in 1885, in the treatment of inflammatory 
alterations of the tendons in the region of the canon and chronic 
lamenesses in the foot. 
The modus operandi, which is slightly more complicated 
