316 
F. TORRANCE. 
solution is sufficient for all practical purposes. By' combining a 
little common salt with the cocaine, the solution acts more 
quickly, and will produce its effect in five instead of fifteen 
minutes. The solution I use is of 4 per cent, cocaine, 2 per 
cent, salt in boiled water. 
Cocaine solution may be used in several ways. The seat of 
operation may be injected with it, or else the nerve trunks lead¬ 
ing to the part may be injected at some little distance. The 
first method is usually employed for the removal of tumors, and 
suturing of wounds, and the firing of spavins. The latter 
method is limited to the surgery of the feet and legs, but is ex¬ 
tremely useful in firing ringbones, and in operations on the 
feet. 
For suturing wounds, the point of the needle is inserted be¬ 
neath the cut edges of the skin, and a few drops injected. The 
needle is withdrawn and inserted again half an inch from the 
first puncture, and a little more injected, and so on until the 
whole margin of the wound is injected. The animal does not, 
as a rule, object very much to the passing of a sharp needle into 
the subcutaneous tissue, and it is unnecessary to puncture the 
skin. After waiting a few minutes for the cocaine to take effect 
the wound may be sutured without the animal showing the 
slightest pain. 
For firing horses the use of cocaine abolishes pain so satis¬ 
factorily that it is seldom necessary to cast an animal for the 
operation, and the twitch is only used while injecting the part. 
Spavins, ringbones, and back tendons can all be fired in this way 
without the animal showing the least pain, and the operator is 
not hampered by the movements of the animal, and can perform 
his work more carefully and satisfactorily. One need only men¬ 
tion, too, the use of cocaine in removing foreign bodies from the 
eye. 
Such, then, are some of the many advantages of anaesthesia, 
both local and general, in veterinary practice—the prevention of 
pain to our patients, and the great advantage to the operator of 
abolishing those sudden and violent manifestations of pain which 
