CAUDAL MYOTOMY VS. CLITORIDOTOMY. 
91 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
CAUDAL MYOTOMY VS. CLITORIDOTOMY. 
By W. L. Williams, D. V. S., Ithaca, N. Y. 
From the Surgical and Obstetric Clinic, New York State Yeterinary College. 
Various accounts appear in current veterinary literature,, 
from time to time, of the successful treatment of vicious mares 
by the removal of the clitoris. It is well known that many, or 
in fact practically all, of these vicious mares, when kicking or 
balking, tend to concomitantly switch the tail violently, urinate 
repeatedly, open and close the vulva rapidly, projecting and 
withdrawing the clitoris, and in general showing signs which 
suggest undue sexual excitement. 
Apparently regarding this female penis as the seat of im¬ 
portant sexual functions, operators have removed it in lieu of 
castration, though it is known that such animals continue to 
menstruate and breed as if nothing had occurred, and yet it is 
claimed that its removal subdues or ameliorates the vice. 
Being skeptical upon the question, two cases have entered 
the college clinic which may suggest a new view of the modus 
operand! of the removal of the clitoris, because in these two 
cases the viciousness was removed without recourse to genital 
surgery. 
Case /.—A small, rugged, common-bred, aged mare, which 
had acquired the vice of gripping the reins with the tail, fol¬ 
lowed by kicking, urinating, etc., and running away, becoming 
wholly unmanageable, except by tying the tail securely to har¬ 
ness or thill. 
The base of each depressor muscle was separately dissected 
out and cut away for a distance of five inches. The tail was 
dressed daily until healed, when it was found that the patient 
had lost her viciousness along with the gripping of the reins. 
Case II .—A well-bred trotting mare, used for butcher’s 
delivery, had contracted vicious habits, like the previous case, 
