DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
485 
After-Treatment .—After the operation, the eye should be 
covered with cloths wrung out of ice water to prevent inflam¬ 
mation ; or a compress securely adjusted to the eye, and ice 
water from a fountain syringe allowed to trickle upon it for the 
first'twenty-four hours. The compress should then be removed, 
and washed well with a weak solution of boric acid, or a 
normal salt solution made with sterilized water; after which, 
another compress must be applied to the eye, saturated with 
either of the above solutions, and hood adjusted (Rev., XXV , 
No. j, p. 213 , Fig. 31). This last dressing must be renewed 
every day, the eye thoroughly washed and examined for adhe¬ 
sions of the ocular and palpebral conjunctivse. 
SURGICAL, ITEMS. 
Removal of the (. scent) Gland from a Specimen of Mephitis 
Mephitaca ( common skunk). —A short time ago a gentleman of 
sporting proclivity asked me if I would remove the scent gland 
from a skunk for him, and remembering that I had read of the 
operation having been done by my friend and preceptor, Pro¬ 
fessor J. M. Wright, of Chicago Veterinary College, I told the 
gentleman that it could be done. When the skunk arrived I 
tried in vain to find Professor Wright’s article, but that copy of 
the Review had eluded me, so I proceeded in the following 
manner: Rolled the animal in a blanket and anaesthetized him 
with ether, washed the anus and adjacent parts with creolin 
solution and distended the rectum with the finger and made a 
small incision over the gland, grasped it with forceps and enu¬ 
cleated it; the same on the other side ; washed the parts again 
with creolin solution and let him revive. The second day the 
little fellow was a trifle dull and I washed out the rectum with 
a solution of magnesium sulphate, and from then on he made 
an uneventful recovery. I wish to say that two medical gentle¬ 
men volunteered to assist me, which they did from the opposite 
side of the street.—( W. L. West , Belfast , Me.) The article 
referred to by Dr. West is a “ surgical item ” found in Vol. 
XXIV, p. 444, of the Review (Sept, number, 1900).— ( E . M .) 
Mesoneurectomy and Some of its Sequels. —It is now about 
five years since mesoneurectomy has become a standard opera¬ 
tion in the United States. Unlike double tibio-peroneal neurec¬ 
tomy, which is at times a tedious operation, at least the peroneal 
part of it, mesoneurectomy is easily performed and an exceed- 
ingly valuable and safe operation. It is not the writer’s desire 
to discuss anatomical landmarks; suffice it to say that along 
