658 
J. A. MC CRANK. 
THE INFLUENCE OF ALTITUDE ON THE RESULTS OF 
SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 
ByJ. A. McCrank, D.V.S., Plattsburgh, N. Y. 
Read before the nth Annual Meeting of the New York State Veterinary Medical 
Society, at Ithaca, Sept, ii, 1901. 
Located on the shores of Lake Champlain and at same time 
at the base of the mountains of the Adirondack range, my field 
of practice is varied in altitude, and, like every other practitioner 
in a country district, I meet with various classes of cases. There 
is just one class of cases I will deal with in this paper and that 
is the case where surgery is the only treatment. Often on such 
calls I have attempted feats which I often thought I should not 
have attempted, but the results have afforded me material to 
make up this paper. Thus you will understand that this thesis 
is but the recorded observations of the writer, and if I were 
capable of arranging the reports of a few cases with the respec¬ 
tive results in the style of an artist—or clothe my expressions 
with fitting explicitness, possibly this paper would be a treat. 
When I first located in my present field, about ten years ago, 
my attention was drawn to a number of cases of u umbilical 
hernia ” in colts from one to four years old, and scattered over 
the country. I was frequently asked if those cases could be op¬ 
erated upon successfully, for the animals were useless as they 
were ; my reply was “ Yes,” if the right man undertook the 
work. I was very anxious to try one, but despaired of success. 
I did not want to fail in my first attempt and a stranger in the 
place and wanting to gain a foothold in the estimation of my 
people. I considered the venture too great. I finally under¬ 
took to operate on Mr. Arnold’s colt, which was two years old. 
I had never seen such an operation, but read reports.) The 
colt was on the farm, about to miles from my office, and at an 
altitude of about 950 feet above the lake. I used the ordinary 
means of restraint, no anaesthetics were used, for I had no one to 
help me on whom I could depend, but all instruments, etc., were 
antiseptic ; my assistants were of poorest quality, as you will soon 
see. When all was in readiness I made my incision, which sev- 
