212 
OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
and actual; cutting down upon the bone with a lancet or 
sharp knife/' &c. I should like to know how much im¬ 
proved that practice is in the nineteenth century. For 
my own part, I do not see that we have much to boast 
of, if we except the division of the nerve. In some cases 
of old standing, when they have been under the treatment 
of others previous to my being consulted, and they have 
failed to effect a cure of the lameness by all the known 
remedies, I have been very successful in rendering an 
animal useful by the operation of neurotomy. Two cases 
were thus treated last year by me, each of which had been 
under surgical treatment for a lengthened period. Repeated 
vesicants, and the actual cautery twice applied, had failed to 
effect the desired end. Upon carefully examining the parts, 
and taking into account what had previously been done, I 
could come to no other conclusion than that the deposits so 
interfered with the ligaments as "well as the tendons, that 
nothing short of cutting off the supply of nervous influence 
w r ould be of use in the cases referred to. Suffice it to 
state, the operation was performed, and in due time they both 
became again useful animals; one as a farm mare and the 
other as a carriage horse. 
We often lose much time in the treatment of ringbone, 
and cause some dissatisfaction to the owners of the animals 
so affected, by the tedious and oftentimes unsuccessful appli¬ 
cation of the various preparations of iodine, vesicatories, and the 
actual cautery. It is a question whether in such cases as I 
have alluded to, it would not be wdse at the onset to prepare 
the parts for the operation of neurotomy, and recommend it 
instead of the old routine mode of treatment. In every case 
that I have had recourse to the division of the nerve in the 
fore extremity, success has favoured the operation, it there¬ 
fore with me is a question which I entertain strong opinions 
upon. 
Ringbone, under any circumstances, must be considered 
an wnsoundness. 
