944 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
animal. The high operation is the one I always perforin for 
ringbone and sidebone and generally for navicular disease. I 
have good results with this operation in these diseases. Low 
ringbone, especially if the exostosis be towards the front, I con¬ 
sider should not be operated on, as the greatest number of fail¬ 
ures from neurectomy in my practice have been from these 
cases, caused, I believe, by a pressure on the coronary band, be¬ 
tween the exostosis and the hoof. The low operation would be 
the one par excellence if it was always successful, but unfortu¬ 
nately it is not, as in many cases the lameness remains and so 
brings discredit on the operation, the owner always expecting 
when a horse is unnerved that he must immediately go sound, 
and then the high operation had to be performed finally. I be¬ 
lieve, if the surgeon picks his cases, the unfortunate results so 
talked about in the high operation will be decreased materially. 
As to the length of time an animal will last after neurectomy, 
this is a question we are continually being asked, and we should 
know how to answer it. The longest time I ever kept track of 
a case was seven years, and this was a pair of light livery 
horses which I continually saw and drove for that time. When 
I last saw them they were still working. The shortest time was 
five weeks, and this quite recently, in a case of navicular dis¬ 
ease, the high operation followed by a rupture of the flexor ten¬ 
don. Bad results which I have noticed are fracture of navicu¬ 
lar bone, rupture of flexor tendons, degeneration of tendons and 
surrounding tissue, sloughing of hoof either by diseased process 
or following an injury, neuromas and regeneration of nerve tis¬ 
sues. Fracture of navicular bone I have seen in two cases, both 
following the low operation, neither in my own practice. Rup¬ 
ture of flexor tendons, two cases, both following high operation, 
one in my own practice and one in a friend’s. Degenerations 
of tendons and surrounding tissues, one case, following high 
operation. Sloughing of hoof following high operation, eight 
cases, five in my own practice. Sloughing of hoof from inju¬ 
ries, about a dozen all told, in my own practice and others. 
Neuromas.—These are of comparatively common occurrence, 
and come, I think, from the use of the animal too soon, some¬ 
times causing great lameness. Regeneration of nerve tissues I 
have seen in two cases, one in a year and one in about eighteen 
months. 
“ I have a few statistics to offer on the results of these oper¬ 
ations, as when I first started in practice I had the onl> table in 
the neighborhood and three practitioners used to bring their 
